CA1254492A - Process for producing electrical steel sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROCESS FOR PRODUCING ELECTRICAL STEEL SHEET
Abstract of the Disclosure A process for the production of an electrical steel sheet having the ideal (100) (001) cube texture of iron of iron alloy, comprising cold rolling a sheet of a single crystal or large grained crystals of iron or iron alloy, in which said single crystal is or a majority of said large grained crystals are oriented so that the pole of the {114}
plane may form an angle not greater than 15° with the normal direction ofthe plane of the sheet. and the <401> direction may form an angle not greater than 15° with a single direction in the plane of the sheet, in said single direction at a rolling reduction of at least 40 %, and annealing the rolled sheet to form a primary recrystallization texture of fine grains of an average grain size of not larger than 5 mm under conditions preventing the occurance of secondary recrystallization.

Description

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PROCESS FOR PRO~UCING ELE~TRIC~L STEEL S~EET
~ield of the Invention The present invention relates to a novel process for the production of an electrical steel sheet having the ~ 100 > axes of easy magnetization in a direction of rolling as well as in a direc-tion perpendicular thereto.

Prior Art It has heretofore been very difficult to commercially produce ;~ an electrical steel sheet of the ideal cube texture orientation hav-ing the < 100 ~ axes of easy magnetization in a direction of rolling o~ as well as in a direction perpendicular thereto.
Electrical steel sheets of the cube texture, as soft magnetic materials, were extensively studied in 1950s and 1960s, primarily for the purpose of using them as core materials for rotors and other electrical instruments. It was very difficuIt, however, to realize crystal grains of the ideal ( 100 ) ~ 001 ) orientation with ferritic steels of the body-centered cubic lattice structure.
We have found a new commercial process for the production of an electrical steel sheet of the ideal cube texture, which is the subject matter of the invention. Before describing the invention, the state . ,~, ~S

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of the typical prior art will be described in some detail for the purpose of clarifyin~ differences between the prior art and the in-vention Incidentally, various magnetic properties referred to herein are shown in the following units:
H c, H l~ and the likes in OerstedJ
B l. B 5, B ,0, Br, Bmax and the likes in Gauss: and wlo/so~ W~5/5~ and the likes in W~kg.
(l) Multiple Stage Cold Rolling of an Oriented Ingot ( General Electric Company ) 0 JP, B1, 33-7952 ( JP, B1 designates a Japanese Patent Pub-lication for which the application was filed in 1975 or before ) discloses and claims a method for producing polycrystalline sheet--like metal having the body-centered cubic crystal lattice form by rolling and heat treating in which a majority of the ~rains thereof have the cube texture preferred orientation with respect to the rolling direction and rollin~ plane of said sheet, comprising the steps of:
pro~iding a polycrystalline sheet-like body of ~etal having the body-centered cubic crystal lattice form in which a majority of the grains comprising said body have been recrystallized by annealing the ~etal following previous working and which have their unit cube lattices so oriented that a first pair of opposite, parallel cube faces are substantially parallel to the plane of the sheet and another pair of opposite, parallel cube faces are substan-tially perpendicular to said first pair of unit cube faces and aresubstantially perpendicular to a single direction in the plane of S ~ 4 the sheetj reducing the thickness of the sheet-like body by at least 40 % by cold rollin~ during which the rolling direction is main-tained substantially parallel to said single direction, and causing said cold worked material to recrystallize in the cube texture preferred orien-tation by annealing said body for an interval of time up to about 8 hours at a temperature of from about 800 ~. to 1200 ~C
The term " cube texture " is synonymous with double orienta-tion appearing iD a double oriented silicon steel sheet, and means a texture of ( 1~0 ) ~ 001 ) type grain orientation. The principle underlying the method of JP, B1, 33-79S2 is understood such that when cold rolled and annealed under controlled conditions, crystals having a cube texture recrystallize again to a cube texture. This is fully discussed in JP, B1, 33-7953, which is a related patent to the JP, B1, 33-7952 and also in TRANS~CTIONS OF THE MET~LLURGICAL
SOCIETY OF AIME, Vol. 212 (1953~, P. 731. " Texture of Cold-Rolled and Recrystallized ~rystals of Silicon-Iron by J. L. Walter and W.
R. Hibbard, Jr. There are ~any patents relating to processes based on the above-mentioned principle. Those Japanese patents include, for example, JP, Bl, 33-7952, 33-7953, 33-7509, 37-17453, 34-9110, 34-g572 and 36-20557, all assigned to General Electric Compan~.
Magnetic properties of a typical product of General Electric Company are shown in the following table.

Table 1 Magnetic Properties of Product of General Electric Company ( Thickness of 0.3mm; from JP, Bl, 33-7509 ) _ H c B r ~ a x _ ~
Rolling D;rection s Cube Texture 0.1 13100 1530090600 Goss Texture 0.1 14100 1575070500 90 Direction Cube Texture 0.135 11650 13300587~
Goss Texture 0.30 4000 1310070Q0 90 Direction : Transverse Direction

(2) Utilization of Surface Energy ~ ~acuumschmelze AG ~
JP, Bl, 36-~554 discloses and claims a process for ~reating silicon iron alloy to form the cube texture in an silicon iron alloy containing from 2 to 5 % of silicon in which a body of the - 15 silicon iron alloy is hot worked, thereafter cold worked one or 5~6;e c~6ea more times, and then P~bjee$~ to final annealing, characterized in that said final annealing is carried out at a temperature of at least 950 c, preferably at a temperature of from 1l00 to 1350 c, for a period of from about 10 minutes to about 20 hours, during which the partial pressure of the annealing atmosphere is maintain-5~f~ C ~
ed sufficiec~tly low on surfaces of the body to be annealed so that the annealing atmosphere on the surfaces of the body to be annealed at the annealing temperature may not allow any silicon oxide to be : formed, rather it may cause any silicon oxide existing there to disappear; and that the annealing temperature, time and atmosphere : are mutually adjusted, in particular, with a high annealing tempe-rature a short annealing time is selected, in the case of a low 5 ~

annealing temperature a long annealing time is selected, and when the oxygen pressure is at the upper liMit a very high annealing f G~y e ~jC7 e ~`
temperature is selected to~h~hcr with the correspondingly short annealing time, SQ that secondary recrystallization may proceed to form a substantially complete cube texture.
The principle underlying the process o~ JP, Bl, 36-8554 is understood such that when the p~rity of the annealing at~osphere represented by the O~ partial pressure is above a certain h;gh level, the surface energy of the gas-metal interface is lower for crystal grains having the ( 100 ) crystal lattice plane in the plane of the sheet than for crystal grains having other planes in the plane of the sheet, and therefore secondary ecrystallization ~ff~:~e~'4/
proceeds in which the surface energy~ erc~ial acts as the driv-in~ force. Technologies of this process have been extensibely in-vestigated in universities and enterprises of several countries, including Germany, Japan and the USA. While some commercial pro-ducts have been marketed, they are not widely used because o~ ths expensive manufacturing cost.
We can mention many patents relating to processes based on the above-mentioned principle, including for example, DE~ B1, 1,029, 845 corresponding to the JP, Bl, 36-8554 ( DE, B1 designates a Ger-man Patent Auslegeschrift having no corresponding ~ffenlegungs-schrift): DE, B1, 1,049,409; JP, Bl, 35-15668; JP, Bl, 39-313; JP, B1, 36-20558: JP, B1, 43-1g63; JP, Bl, 39-9671; FR, A, 1,168,022 ( FR, A designates a French Brevet d'Inventiono published before 1969):
DE, B1~ 1,250,850; JP, B1, 36-20556; JP, B1, 38-140~8; DE, B1, `` ~L'~5 4 4 9'~

1,149,374; JP, Bl, 38-14007; US, h, 3,078,198 ( US, A designates a US Patent Specification ); JP, Bl, 37-18608; USI ~l 3l240~638; JP
Bl, 39-12240; JP, Bl, 39-12241~ GB, A, 932l923 ( GB, A designates a United Kingdom Patent Specification of a num~er less than 1,605, 225 ); JP, Bl, 45-9656, JP, Bl, 38-26256~ JP, Bl, 38-22705; JP, Bl, 38-21858; JP, Bl, 38-21857; US, A, 3~130~093; JP, Bl, 42-5081; JP~
Bl, 40-29446; US~ A, 3~152~930; FR, A, 1~372~238; US~ ~ 3~271~203 JP, Bl, 40-11286: JP, Bl, 41-792g: US, A, 3~4~3~165 FR, A, lj450~
626; USI A, 3l278~348; JP, Bl, 44-28781; JP, Bl, 44-32340; JP, Bl, 46-8095 US~ A, 3~640~780; JP, Bl, 48-17565: JP,Bl, 4~-19767 and FR, A, 1,550,182.
Magnetic properties of some typical products obtained by the processes of this type are shown in the following tables, Table 2 Magnetic Properties of Product of ~acuumschmelze AG
from JP, Bl, 36-8554 ) 14KG(Oe) 16KG (Oe3 18KG (~e) Rolling Direction Cube Texture O. 5 0.8 5.0 Goss Texture 0.5 1.0 lO.O
Rolling Direction Cube Texture O. 6 2.0 12.0 Goss Texture 10.0 50.0 200.0 Table 3 Magnetic Properties of Product of JP, Bl, 35-15668 (Rolling Direction; Thickness of O.lmm ) ¦ ¦ B I ¦ B lo ¦ H c ¦ ~ ~ ¦
Cube Texture 12700 16500 0.180 24500 Goss Texture 13000 16500 0.290 29500 iL2 54 ~ 9~

1 Table 4 Magnetic Properties of Product of JP, Bl, 39-12240 ~ Thickness of 0.3mm ) _ H c B , ~ B , B ~ B / H
Gube Texture 0.032 10500 1500 16125 17200 216000 Goss ~exture 0.030 10875 1404 15850 16750 132Q00 Table 5 Magnetic Properties of Product of JP, Bl, 44-28781 ( Thickness of 0.3mm ) _ H c B lo ~ m

3 %Si-Fe 0.072 16800 36500 _ ~

4 %Mo-Fe 0.055 13600 55300 ~able 6 Magnetic Properties of Products described in J. of l~h ~s~ c5 Applied f~=if~ Vol. 29, No. 3 (1959), P. 363 _ Thickness H c B ~ B 5 B 1~ ~ m a 0.02 mm 0.194 16000 17600 18000 37000 a 0.05:mm 0.175 12900 16300 16800 27000 b 0.10 mm 0.115 13300 16500 17000 42000 b 0.28 :~ 0.073 12700 15700 16600 37000 Note a: Means of the values measured in the rolling and 90 directions.
b: Value measured in the rolling direction.

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l (3). Process Developed by Yereinigte Deutsehe Metallwerke ~.
US, A, 3,008,857 discloses and claims in a process for the production of pronounced ( lO0 ~ ~ 001 ~ texture in magnetizable sheets and strips of magnetizable iron alloys selected from the group consisting of magnetizable silicon iron alloys containing 0.5 to 3.5 % of silicon, magnetizable aluminum iron alloys contain-ing 0.5 to 2.5 % of aluminun and magnetizable silicon-aluminum iron alloys in which the content of silicon ~ aluminum is from Q~5 to 3.5 % in which hot rolled sheets and strips are cold rolled and then subjected to a final recrystallization anneal, in combination therewith, the steps which co~prises subiecting the cold rolled stock to a predetermined aging for a predetermined period of time at a predetermined temperature between the cold rolling and the final recrystalli~ation anneal, the temperature and duration of such predetermined aging being such as to cause an improvement in the quality of the ( 100 ) ~ Q01 ) grain orientation achieved upon the final recrystallization anneal and ranging from room temperature for a period of 2 to 10 days and to lO0 DC~ for a period of about 1 to 10 hours.
Stages in which the cube texture is formed in the above--mentioned process is reported in detail in Archiv fur das Eisenh-uttenwessen, 29 Jahrsgang, Hefte 7, Jule 1956, s. 423, E. Moebius und F. Pawlek; ~ie Wurfellage als Rekristallisations--textur bei Eisen-Silizium Regierungen. Patents relating to this process are DE, Bl, 1,009,214, JP, Bl, 36-7352; US, A, 3,008,857;
and JP, Bl, 44-23745.

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l Magnetic properties of a typical product of Melallwerke AG.
are shown in the following table.
Table 7 Magnetic Properties of Product of Metallwerke AG.
-( Thickness of 0.3mm, from JP, Bl, 36-7352 ) H c W IO/SO ~ _ Hls Cube Texture Rolling Direction0.04 ~ 0.06 0.56 8500 0.46 .
45 Direction ~.07 ~ 0.08 0.90 _ 60 90~ Direction 0.04 ~ 0.06 0.56 8500 0.46 Goss Texture Rolling Direction 0.11 0.45 0.63 45~ Direction 0.23 5.6 140 90 Direction 0 2~ 1.7 _ 58 (4). Use of Cross Rolling and ~lN ~ Nippon Steel Corporation ) JP, Bl, 35-2657 discloses and claims a process for the preparation of a double oriented silicon steel sheet having an improved orientation and a reduced core loss comprising cold roll-ing a hot rolled silicon steel sheet containing-from 2.0 to 4.0 %
- of silicon and from 0.01 to 0.04 % of aluminum in a first direc-tion at a rolling reduction of from 40 to 80 %, cold rolling the same in a second direction crossin~ the first direction at a ~: rolling reduction of from 30 to 70 %, annealing the col~ rolled sheet at a temperature of from 750 to 1000c for a short period of time, and subjecting the sheet to a final annealing at a temperature of from 900 to 1300 C.
The principle underlying this process is such that after the formation of a matrix, in which the cube texture is likely to grow, 1~S 4 ~ 9 ~

by cross rollin~, secondary recrystallization driven by grain boundary energy is caused to proceed while impurity inhibition be-ing effected by AlN. Patents relatin~ to processes of this type are JP, Bl, 35-2657: JP, Bl, 35-17208: JP, Bl, 38-1459. JP, B1, 38-8213;
and JP, B1, 39-22491. Reference is also made to Acta Met., 14 (1966) p. 405; The Effects of AlN on Secondary Recrystallization Texture in Cold Rolled and Annealed ( ~01 ) ~ 100 ~ Single Crystals of 3 % Silicon Iron: S. Taguchi and A. Sakakura.
Magnetic properties of a typical product of Nippon Steel 0 Corporation are shown in the following table.

Table 8 Magnetic Properties of Product of Nippon Steel Corp, ( Thickness of 0.3mm; from JP, B1, 35-17208 ) _ _ B I Wl 5/5 Rollin~ Direction 18340 ~.98 _ 90 Direction 18150 1.05 ~5) Fe-Al Alloys Regarding e~ectrical steel sheets of Fe-Al alloys many studies have been made for a long time. All of them are based on the formation of the cube texture by repeating rolling and anneal-ing. The cube texture is more readily obtainable with Fe-Al alloys than with Fe-Si alloys, although the cube texture in Fe-Al alloys is not so sharp as that in Fe-Si alloys. Patents relating to pro-cesses for the formation of the cube texture with Fe-Al alloys are ~Z59Lf~

l US, ~, 2,875,114; US, A, 2,3~0,336; US, A, 3,058,857; JP, Bl, 36--l0806; US, A, 3,279,960; JP, Bl, 41-2604 and ~P, Bl, 45-2~576.
Magnetic properties of a typical product of the process of this type are shown in the following table.
Table 9 Magnetic Properties oi Product of JF', Bl, 45-20576 ~ Thickness of 0.35 mm ¦ ¦ B~o ¦ Bz5 ¦ B 50 ¦ W IO/5~ ¦ W~s~so Rolling Direction 16800 ~8000 1~5~0 0.60 1.40 90 Direction 16500 17800 18400 0.63 1.40 Apart from academic interest, much attention is not paid to the products of the above-discussed prior art processes. This is partly because of their expensive manufacturing costs since the proc~sses include commercially difficult technologies, and partly because properties of the products do not necessarily satisfy to-day s market needs.

Market Needs The greatest demands for electrical steel sheets are core materials of large rotating machines, large- and medium-sized trans formers as well as various small-sized, high performance rotors and transformers used in électronics fields. Generally, cores of large rotating machines are made of high grade non-oriented silicon steel sheets, while cores of large- and medium-sized transformers are made of high grade grain oriented silicon steel sheets. For cores of high performance rotors and transformers used in electronics fields, 9 ~

various soft magnetic materials, including non-oriented silicon steel sheets, grain oriented silicon steel sheets, thin oriented silicon steel sheets, Permalloy ", "Supermendur~,~'Amorphous~ and soft ferrites, as well as hard magnetic materials, including ferritic magnets, are avalable.
Interesting possible applications of electrical steel sheets are use of them as magnetic materials in instruments for space and air crafts. Such instruments include, for example, motors, relays, transformers and magnetic amplifiers, all of them requiring light 0 weight and high efficiency. Magnetic materials suitable for use in such instruments must exhibit not only an extremely low core loss and a high magnetic flux density, but also improved magnetic pro-perties at working alternative high frequencies of the instruments, normally ranging between 1000 Hz and 50 KHz. Candidates for such magnetic materials would be thin matallic materials and soft fer-rites. Exemplified for the thin metallic materials, one can mention ~Supermendur " ( 48Co-Fe alloy ) of a thickness of 2 or 6 mil, a thin oriented silicon steel sheet ( 3 % Si-Fe alloy of the (110) ~001 ) type ) of a thickness of 0.1 mm and a thin double oriented silicon steel sheet ( 3 %Si-~e alloy of the (100) (001 type supplied by Vacuumschmelze AG. ) of a thickness of 0.1 mm.
It is said that "Supermendur~ is the best in view of its very low core loss and high magnetic flux density. See ~. C. Beiler;
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 38, No, 3 ( 1967 ) P. 1161.
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Regarding the soft ferrites, such as Mn--Zn ferrite, they ~h~bi~
satisfactory high frequency properties at ambient temperature, but ~ r~'q c~e ~ k ~2S~g~

1 because of their unduly low Curie points they are not suitale for use in instruments of space crafts, where problems relating to ext~a--ordinary temperature rising are posed.
More particularly, magnetic materials suitable for use in the above-mentioned instruments, in particular, as stator cores, rotor cores, frames, transformer cores and relay parts, are requir-ed to possess the following proyerties:
(1). high saturation magnetic flux density ( B s );
~2). low residual magnetic flux density (Br ), low coercive force ( H c ~, and low hysteresis loss ( W h );
(3). low core loss;
(4). low thermal expansion coefficient:

(5). low ~agnetostriction:

(6) high strength: and

(7). above-mentioned properties after aging or at an elevated temperature ~ Curie points of typical metalllc materials are shown in Table 10 below.).
Table lO Curie Point -__ Material C~rie Point 2050Ni-50Fe 482 c _ 3 %Si-Fe 737 C
Fe 770 C
27 % Co-Fe 969 C
_ 50Co-50Fe 977 C
~o 113~ C

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Among the existing thin metallic magnetic materials, the above-mentioned *Supermendur "( 48 Co-Fe alloy ) is the best, and its next is ~Cubex ~ ( the above-mentioned 3 %Si-~e alloy of the ~100) (001) type supp}ied by Vacuumschmelze ~G. ) .
However, the Co-~e alloy is very expensive, and the " Cubex~
has, because of its coarse grains, unsatisfactory magnetic proper-ties at high frequencies. Accordingly, it is highly desired in -the art to prepare a thln silicon steel sheet having orientation compar-able to that of the "Cubex" and composed of finer grains. Such a 0 material can be a substitute for the expensive Co-Fe alloy, al-though it is im~ossible to realize the Curie point of the Co-Fe alloy, which is inherent to the composition of the alloy.

Object of the In~ention An obiect of the invention is to satisfy the above-discussed market needs.

Description of the Invention cr~ sf~/og rc2~ ~Ga The invention is based on a e~ys~a~e8F~Fh~eal- discovery that an electrical steel sheet having a ferritic single phase of the ~100) (001) oriented cube texture can be readily and inexpensively produced by suitably cold rolling and annealing a sheet of a single crystal or large grained cryatals of iron or iron alloy having an initial orientation of { 114 } <401> or near { 114 } <4Ql~.
Thus, a process for the production of an electrical steel sheet having a ferritic single phase of the (100) (001) cube texture a Je ~ c~

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1 of iron or iron alloy, according to the invention, comprises:
cold rolling a sheet comprising a single crystal or large grained crystals of iron or iron alloy, in which said single crystal is or a majority of said large grainecl crystals are orient-ed so that the pole of the { 114 ~ plane may form an angle of not greater than 15~ with the normal direction of the plane of the sheet, and the c401> direction may form an angle of not greater than 15 with a single direction ;n the plane of the sheet, in said single direction at a rolling reduction of at least 40 ~S, and 0 annealing the rolled sheet to form a primary recrystallization texturc of fine grains of an average grain size of not larger than 5 mm under conditions preventing the occurance of secondary re-crystalli~ation.
crys~e ~/c, gr ~ph~c~/
The invention based on the above-mentioned ~iYR}~}hsgF~h~
information is theoretically applicable to crystals of the body-centered crystal lattice. Thus, the metals contemplated herein in-clude, pure iron and iron alloys having a composition rendering the metallic structure of the final product a ferritic single phase.
It should be pointed out that it is frequently advantageous to modi-fY the chemical composition of the product by addition of various alloying elements, including, for example, in % by weight, up to 8 % of Si, up to 20 ~o of Al, up to 5 % of Mo, up to 25 % of ~r, up to 6 ~ of W, up to 3 % of Ti, up -to 3 % of Nb and up to 5 %
of ~. The composition of the iron alloy used in the practice of the process of the invention must be such that the metallic struc-ture of the final product can be a single phase of ferrite.

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1 Si serves to improve magnetic properties of the product, and is particularly effective for lo~ering the core loss of the pro-duct by increasing the electrical resistivities. It further improves the wear resistance of the product. ~s the Si content exceeds 5 %~
the workability of the product becomes worse, but this difficulty may be overcome by warm working, and thus, addition of Si in an amount of up to 8 % is permissible. Al is effective for enhancing the permeability, increasing the electrical resistivites and im-proving the wear resistance. Especially, when Al is used in combina-0 tion with Si, the wear resistance of the product is remarkably im-proved. However, addition of ~l substantially in excess of 20 % must be avoided, since it makes the product unduly brittle~ Mo serves to enhance the permeability of the product. But as the amount of Mo added approaches and exceeds 5 %, the effect of Mo to enhance the permeability tends to gradually and drastically decrease. Cr is very effective for improving the corrosion resistance of the pro-duct, and permitted to be~used in an amount of up to 25 %. Up to 6 % of W, up to 3 % of Ti, up to 3 % of Nb and~or up t~ 5 %
of V may be also added for the purpose of improving various pro-perties of the product. Other alloying elements, which may be usedwithout adversely affecting the magnetic properties of the product, include up to 2 % of Sb, up to 2 % of As and up to 2 3/o of B.
The beneficial cube texture and advantageous magnetic pro-perties of the product obtained by a process according to the in-vention may be adversely affected by the presence of impurities,including, for example, C, S, P, Se, N and 0. ~ccordingly, the 2 S 4~9 ~

s~allest possible amounts of such impurities are preferred for the purpose of the invention. These elements may be eliminated or reduced as far as possible at the stage of steel making or in one or more subsequent steps.
In the process according to the invention a sheet of a single crystal or large grained ~ of iron or iron alloy having an initial orientation of {114} <~01> or near {114~ C401~ is cold rolled and annealed. More precisely, a sheet comprising a single crystal or large gralned crystals of iron or iron alloy, in which 0 said sin~le crystal is or a majority of said lagre grained crystals are oriented so that the pole of the { 114 ~ plane may form an angle of not greater than lS with the normal direction of the plane of the sheet, and the ~401~ direction may form an ang~e of not greater than 15 with a single direction in t,he plane of the sheet, is cold rolled in said single direction and annealed.
~ he cold rolling may be carried out in a single stage without any intefflmediat~ annealing step, although the numher of passes of the sheet through the rolling mill necessary to achieve a desired rolling reduction is not li~itative. The rolling reduction is defined by the following equation:
Initial thickness - ~inal thickness Rolling reduction = x 100 ( ~ ) Initial thickness It is essential to carry out the cold rolling at a rollin~ reduc-tion of at least 40 %, preferably at least 60 %, in order to realize the desired cube texture after the subsequent primary re-crystallizatioa. The annealing subsequent to the cold rolling may ~;~S~ 9 ~

be carried out at a temperature at which primary recrystallization may proceed, for example, at a temperature ranging from about 700 C. to about 1100 C., for an appropriate period of time. The higher the annealing temperature, a shorter annealing time should be selected to avoid the occurance of secondary recrystallization.
Use of annealing temperatures substantially in excess of about 1100 C., which promote secondary recrystallization, should also be avoided. If substantial secondary recrystallization proceeds, the product deviates from the desired cube texture. Furthermore, the avoidance of secondary recrystallization ensures fine grains, contributing to reduction in the core loss and eddy current loss of the product. Generally, grains having an average size of not larger than 5 mm are obtainable by the process according to the invention. Grains having an average size of not larger than 2 mm are preferred. The products may have a thickness of up to about 1.2 m~. In view of their reduced eddy current loss products having a thickness of from about 10 to about 200 ~ are preferred.
The starting material of the process according to the inven-tion is a sheet of a single crystal or large grained cryatals of iron or iron alloy h~ving an initial orientation of { 114 } ~401 or near { 114 } <401~ . It has not heretofore been known to start with the initial orientation of { 114 } c401> or near { 114 <401~ for producing the ~lO0) (001~ cube texture.
Table 11 shows initial orientation, texture after cold roll-ing, texture after primary recrystallization and texture after secondary recryatallization, of single crystals of 3 % silicon l~S~9;~

1 iron, reported in literatures.
As revealed from Table 11, the prior art is based on such a concept that in order to realize the ~100) (001) cube texture in silicon steel it is essential to start with crystals having an s initial orientation of ~100) (001) or near (100) (001) . and let them undergo cold rolling and primary or secondary recrystal-lization. However, by starting with the initial orientaion of (100) (001) or near (100~ (001) , the ideal (100) (aOl) cube texture is not obtained, as demonstrated hereinafter ;~S4 ~r~ g d _ _ ~y c ~ ~ :~ ~ ~ ~
v7 ~ 4a3 3 O
~ ~ ~ ~ ~0 ~
I'I ~ ~ .~ ~8 v~ ~1 ~ 1- i .
o .~1 c ~ ~ ~I ~o I ~3 _ ¦~c e ~.~ ~ ~ O O t_o 2 ¦ ~ O ~ _ ~ V) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ O ~ ~ ~.22: ~
r; ~1 ~ ~ ~ e c j~ c ~1 ~ ~ _3~ e e~ e ~a _ O A ~ ~ A _ A ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 8 8 -o8 O ~_ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 c ~ ~ c e c ~c ~ c ~ c ~ c ~ ~ _ _ r~
~ ~ - Q. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
..
Oe e ~ ~ 8 7~ ~ 8 ~
~ c~ c~8 ~ ~
~ _ .
~ - - - ~ ~

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The ideal (100) ~001) cube texture has now been obtained in accordance with the invention starting with a single crystal or large grained crystals having an initial orientation of { 114 } <~01~ or near ~ 114 ~ <401~, such as ~ 113 } <301>, and letting such a crystal or crystals undergo cold rolling and pri-mary recrystallization.

A sheet of a s;ngle crystal or large grained ~Æx~ having the critical initial orientation prescribed herein, which is used as the starting sheet in the process according to the invention can lo be prepared by methods known in themselves. For example, a cylindrical rod of a single crystal may be prepared by the Bridgman's method, and from the rod so prepared, a sheet of a single crystal having the desir-ed orientation in the plane of the sheet ma~ be cut out. Alternatively, a sheet of a single crystal having the desired orientation ~ay be lS prepared by a so-called strain anneal method as illustrated hereinafter.
A convenient thickness of the starting sheet may range from about 50 to about 6 mm.
The product obtained by the process according to the inven-tion consists essentially of fine crystal grains having an average size of not greater than about 5 mm, preferably not greater than about 2 mM, and has the (100) (001) cube texture. By the term u the (lOO (001) cube texture we mean that the (100) plane of a majority of crystal grains is substantially parallel to the roll-ing plane~ and the (001) axis of a maJority of crystal grains is substantially parallel to the rolling direction, without deviating therefrom by an angle in excess of 15~. As demonstrated hereinafter, 4~

the product obtained by the process according to the invention has improved magnetic properties, in particular, it exhibits a surpris-csp e c ~ Q ~
ingly low core loss,-e?3we~r~ at high frequencies, satisfying the market needs discussed above.

Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 (a), (b) and (c) are (110) pole figures of cold roll-ed and recrystallized crystals which have had the indicated initial orientations;
Fig. 2 (a)~ (b) and (c) are (110) pole figures of crystals o having had an initial orientation of { 113 } <301> , after pro-cessed as indicated:
Fig. 3 (a~, ~b) and (c) are (110) pole figures of crystals ha~ing had an initial orientation of { 114 } C401> , after pro-cesséd as indicated;
Pi~. 4 (a), ~b) and (c) are (110) pole figures of crystals having had an initial orientation of (100) (001~ after process-ed as indicated;
Fig. 5 (a) and (b) are (110) pole figures of crystals having had an initial orientation of { 114 ~ <221> , after processed as indicated;
Fig. 6 (a) is a (100) pole figure showing initial orienta-tions of single crystals with marks indicating the liability of becoming the (100) ~001) cube texture by cold rolling and primary orientation;
~ig. 6 (b) is a (100) pole figure showing distributions of ~zs~

the initial orientations of single crygtals, which will have the (lO0) (001~ orientation when cold rolled and recrystallized, ~ the distributions are shown by circles in the figure~:
~h e A Fig 7 i5 a (100~ pole figure showing~relationship between initial and secondary recrystallization orientations; and Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a sheet of single crystals being prepared for illstrating a method for the preparation.

The invention will be further described by the following ex-periments and with reference to the attached drawings.
~he Table 12 shows~chemical compositions of the steels used in the experiments.
Table 12 Chemical Composition of Steels ( % by weight) Steel No. Sl-l Sl-2 Sl-3 C 0.0066 0.0032 0.0010 Si 2.81 3.~9 3.01 Mn 0.16 0.12 0.08 P 0.006 0.007 0.0~3 S 0.026 0.~0~ 0.0005 Ni 0.02 0.12 0.03 Cr Q.50 O.Q6 O.Q2 N O.QQ43 0.0005 0.0005 _ _ ~ 0.~0 0.0020 0.0005 Preparation Procedure I
An ingot of Steel No. Sl-1 shown in Table 12 was forged to a 2 5 ~ 4~A~

cylindrical rod having a diameter of about ~0 mm, and then ground to a rod having a diameter of about 15 mm and a length of about 90 mm, from which a rod of a single crystal having a diameter of about 15 mm and a length of about 80 mm was prepared by the well-known ~r~ ?g-P method. ~ sheet of a single crystal with an initial orientation of ~ 113 } c301~ having a thickness of 2.5 mm, a width of 10 mm and a length of 25 mm, was cut from the rod of a single crystl. Several such sheets were prepared in the same manner. Each sheet was cold rolled in the <301~ direction at a rolling reduc-o tion of 80 or 9~ % and then annealed in a hydrogen atmosphere main-tained at a temperature ranging from 850 to 950 C. for a period of time not longer than 30 min.
Preparation Procedure ~
An ingot of Steel No. Sl-3 shown in Table 12 was forged -to a plate having a thickness of about 10 mm and a width of about 11~ mm~
and then ground to a plate having a thickness of about 7 mm, a width of about 100 mm and a length of about 400 mm. The plate was hot rolled to a thickness of about 2 mm, and then ground to a sheet of a thickness of 1.5 mm. From the sheet so prepared, a sheet of a single crystal with an initial orientation of { 114 ~ ~401~ hav-in~ a thickness of 1.5 mm, a width of 5~mm and a length of 250 mm, was prepared by the well-known strain anneal technique. Several such sheets were prepared in the same manner. Each sheet was cold rolled in the ~401~ direction at a rollin~ reduction of 7S or 90 %
25 and then annealed in a hydrogen atmosphere maintained at a tempe-rature rangin~ from 850 to 1000 ~ for a period of time not lon~er 1 than 30 min Preparation Procedure m An ingot of Steel No. Sl-2 shown in Table 12 was forged to a plate having a thickness of about 10 mm and a width of about 110 mm, and then ground to a plate having a thickness of about 7 mm, a width of about 100 mm and a length of about 400 mm. The plate was cold rolled to a strip having a thickness of 1 mm and a width of 100 mm, which was then annealed in a hydrogen atmosphere maintained at a temperature of 850 C for a period of 30 min. Edges at one end of the strip so prepared were cut off to make the width of the strip at that end narrower. A separately prepared single crystal having a particular orientation (100~ ~001) , ~ 114 } <401~
or ~ 114 } <221~, was welded to the s~rip at that narrow end by laser welding so that the (100) or { 114 } plane of the crystal may be substantially parallel to the plane of the strip and the (001) ,C401~ or ~221~ direction of the crystal may be substantial-ly parallel to the longitudinal direction of the strip. The strip was caused to pass with its welded end ahead through a temperature ~radient furnace, in which a temperature gradient at 900C, was 150 C./cm, at a speed of 0.2 mm/min. In this manner, several single crystal strips with an orientation of ~100) (001) , those with an orientation of { 114 } <401~ and those with an orientation of { 114 } ~221~ were prepared.
Each strip ~as cold rolled in the longitudinal direction at a rolling reduction of 75 or 90 % and then annealed in a hydrogen atmosphere maintained at a temperature ranging from 850 to I000 C

~ Z 5 ~

1 for a period of time not longer than 30 min, Test specimens prepared as in Preparation Procedures were examined for both the cold rolled and annealed t;extures. Some of them are shown by ~110) pole figures of Pi~s. 2 -to 5.
1. Cold rolled and recrystallized oriental;ions of crystals in the case of {1133 <301> initial orientation ( Fig. 2 ) (a). The cold rolled orientation, in the case of a rolling reduction of 90 %, is (322) ~011) , as seen from Fig. 2~a).
(b) The primary recrystallization orientation, in the case of a rolling reduction of 90 %, comprises mainly {115 } <501> , and contains (430) ~001) and (210) ~123) as subsidiary orienra-tions, as seen from Fig. 2(b).
(c). In the case of a rolling reduction of 80 %, approximate-i~ Iy the same amounts of {115} <501> and (430) ~001) appear in the d~ t'GC r)~5 ~ /~'z C~ 'G~
primary ~ }~r~ t orientation~ as seen ~rom Fig. 2(c).
In both cases of (b) and (c) 95 % or more of the grains had a size below l mm.
2 Cold rolled and recrystallized orientations of crystals in the case of {114} C401> initial orientation ( Fig. 3 ) (a). The cold rolled orientation, in the case of a rolling reduction of 90 %, is {511} <011~ as seen from Fig. 3(a).
/'æ c ~ s~a~ a f~
(b) The primary~ Qrientation, in the case of a rolling reduction of 90 %, comprises mainly (10a) ~001) , as seen from Fig. 3(b).
(c). ~he primary recrystallization orientation, in the case of a rolling reduction of 75 %, comprises mainly (100) (015) , .

2 5 ~ 4~

and contains (210) ~ (430) ~hkl) subsidiary orientations, as seen from Fig. 3(c).
3 Cold rolled and recrystallized orientations of crystals in the case of (100) ~001) initial orientation ~ Fig. 4 3 In the case of (100) ~001) initial orientation, the primary recrystallization orientation is quadruply symmetrical {113 } c301>, and thus the (100) [001) type cube texture is not obtained, as seen from ~ig. 4~b) and (c).
4. Cold rolled and recrystallized orientations of crystals in the case of ~114} C221~ initial orientation ( Fig. 5 ) ln the case of {114} c22l> initial orientation, the primary recrystallization orientation is (100~ ~011) , and thus the cube texture is not obtained, as seen from Fig. 5(b).
It is revealed from the test results that the (100) [001) type cube texture is not obtained by cold rolling the (100) plane of single crystals in the ~001) direction followed by recrystal-lization: rather the ideal (lO0) ~001~ type cube texture can be obtained by cold rolling the {114} plane of single crystalls in the <401> direction followed by recrystallization; and further single cryatals of the {113} ~301> initial orientation, which is near {1143 c401>, is also useful for providing a cube texture very near ~114} <401> by cold rolling and recrystallization.
Based on the newly discovered information, we carried out experiments in order to determine a range of initial orientations of a starting material suitable for the provision of the desired cube texture of (100) [001) . In the experiments, sin~le crystals having various predetermined initial orientations were cold rolled in various crystographical directions at a rolling reduction of from 80 to 90 %, and then annealed at a temperature of 850 C.
for 30 minutes to effect primary recrystallization. Some of them were further annealed at a temperature of from 1100 to 12~0c. to effect secondary recrystallization. For the annealed samples (100) pole figures were made. The results are summarized in ~igs. 6(a) and ~b~.
Fig. 6(a) depicts initial orientations of the tested single o crystals with marks showing a liability of recrystallizing to the (100~ ~001) orientation by cold rolling and primary recrystalli-zation. The marks 6~, O , O, ~ and x indicates the nearness of the recrystallized crystal to the (100) ~001~ orientation in the order of from the nearest to the most remote. ~or each tested single crystal, the type o~ the initial orientation, the angular deviations of the ~100) pole from the rolling plane (RP) and roll-in~ direction ~RD) for the purpose of showing the exact initial orientation, the measured magnetic torque of the recrystallized grain and its % based on the theoretical value calculated for the ~100) ~Q01~ cube texture together with the identification number of crystal and the mark indicated in Fig. 6~a), are shown in Table 13.

~s~

1 Table 13 Relationship between Initial Orientation of Single Crystal and Liability of Recrystal-lizing to ~100) ~001) type Cub~ Texture _ Type of Angular Magnetic Torque Remarks Initial Deviations of Recrystalli2ed _ Orienta- ~deg)from Grain No. of Mark tion Crystal RP RD x104erg/cc 16 15 16.5 9~ 2 0 ~7 ~ 17.0 95 9 ~1143 15 1~ 18.3 100 21 6 17.0 94 ~1 @~
7 13 18.0 10~ 42 _ 15 near 20 21 15.9 88 20 O
{114} 200 12 156 808898 332 CD
_ 19 48 Ul x _ _ 20~ 1113) ~ 22 22 ~ 15.6 ~ 8 l

8 3~ O
_ _ 1 Table 13 (continued) Type of Angular Magnetic Torque Remarks Initial Deviations of Recrystallized Orienta- (deg)from Grain No. of Mark tion Crystal RP RD x lo4erg/cc %
4 ~ 14.5 81 7 _ O O 14.8 82 CO
near O 3 12.g 71 C
0 ~100} O 10 15.8 88 ~,o O 8 13.6 75 Cl~ ~
_ 8 8 12.9 72 C3, A
7 1~ x 28 7 19 x near 28 3 117 x ~1203 17 25 14.3 79 103 x 12 104 x 17 6 13.3 74 12~ x __ _ ~ig. 6(a) again reveals the fact that when the starting sheet of single cryatals has an initial orientation of {114} ~401~ or near {114~ <401> , it recrystallizes to the ideal (100) ~001) cube texture. ~his is substantiated by the data on the measured magnetic torque ( magnetic rotation ) of the tested single cryatals, shown in ~able 120 Fig. 6(b) is a copy of Fig. 6~a) in which the crystal numbers are omitted and allowable angular deviations from th~ {1143 <401>
r~l~f,'~
are indicated by circles. The four r~ha~vck~ small circles at the center of the figure show the ranges in which the angular deviation of the rolling plane ( the plane of the sheet ) from the ~114~ is not greater than 15. and relatively large cireles in the periphe-ral portions of the figure show the ranges in which the angular de-viation of the rolling direction from the <401~ is not greater than 3o l~S~

1 15. Incidentally, an initial orientation of {113} <301~ falls within the ranges of allowable angular deviations contemplated herein.
Fig. 7 is a (001) pole figure showing relationship between initial orientations of the tested single crystals and secondary recrystllization orientations. It is revealed from Fig. 7 that even starting with single- ~ Nos. 9 and 32, which have the critical initial orientations prescribed herein, secondary recrystallization orientations obtainable therefrom are not the desired (100) ~001) .
It is said by J. L. Waltsr and W. R. ~ibbard, Jr. in Trans. AIME, Vol. 212. Dec., (1958), page 731, with reference to Fig. 7 that when crystals having the (100) plane parallel to or deviated by an angle of not greater than 30 from the rolling plane, are cold rolled and re-crystallized, they recrystallizes to essentially a cube texture. How-ever, in the case of the initial orientation of (100) ~0~1) or near (1aO) (001) the ~ar iX~bi ~crystallization orientation is quadruply symmetrical {113} <301~, as shown by S Taguchi and ~. Sakakura in Acta. Met.,14 (1966) page 405. This is also shown in Pig. 4 of the at-tached drawings. Further, the data on the magnetic torque shown in Table 12 substantiate that the essential cube texture referred to in the article of Walter et al would have been a pseudo-cube texture, which may exhibit only about 80% of the theoretical magnetic rotation (magnetic torque) calculated for the ideal (100) ~OQ1~ cube textrue.

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Example A slab of silicon steel containing in % by weight 0.0030 % of C, 3.10 % of Si, 0.10 % of Mn, 0.006 % of P, 0.004 % of S, 0,20 % of Cr, 0.30 % of Mo, 0.001 % of 0 and 0.003 % of N, was hot rolled to a hot gage of 2.0 mm, which was then cold rolled to a strip of a thickness of 0.5 mm. The strip was coated with magnesia powder, maitained in a hydrogen atmosphere at a temperature of lOS0 c. for about 3 hours, and then allowed to cool. The strip consisted essential-ly of 0.0029% of C, 3.09 % of Si, 0.10 % of Mn, 0.00~ % of P, 0.0009 % of S, 0.20 % of Cr, 0.29 % of Mo, 0.0009 % of 0 and 0.0005 % of N, -the balance being Fe. The strip was slit to s width of 100 mm.
Now referring to ~ig. 8, edges 2 and 2' at one end of the strip 1 having a thickness of 0.5 mm and a width of 100 mm were removed by etching to make that end narrow. To the narrow end, a sheet of a seed single crystal 3 having the (114) crystalline plane, which had ` been separately prepared from the same material as that of the strip, was welded by laser beam so that the (114) plane of the seed crystal may be parallel to the plane of the strip and the ~401~ axis of the seed crystal may be parallel to the longitudinal direction (that is the rolling direction) of the strip. The reference numeral 4 designates the weld line. The strip was then caused to pass with its welded end ahead at a speed of 0.5 mm/min. through a temperature gradient electric furnace having a maximum temperature of 1150 C. and an average tempe rature gradient of about 1~0C./cm at a zone of about 900 ~c. ln this manner single crystal strips having the (114) plane parallel to the ~ S~

1 plane of the strip and the (401~ direction parallel to the longitudi-nal direction of the strip were prepared.
One strip so prepared was cold rolled to a $hickness of 0.1 mm ( 8Q % reduction in thickness), while another to a thickness of 0.05 mm ( 90 % reduction in thickness), by means of a 20 height cold rolling mill, and the cold rolled strips were continuously annealed by passing them through a hydrogen atmosphere maintained at a temperature of 1000 c. within 5 minutes.
The product, which was cold rolled at a rolling reduction of gO
0 % and annealed at 1000 c. for 5 minutes, exhibited a magnetic torque of 17.9 x 10~ erg/cc and had an average grain size of about 0.2 mm.
~ig. 1(a) is a (100) pole figure of this pro~uct. Por comparison purposes, results obtained from (100) ~OQl) and ~114) ~221~ initial orientations under comparative conditions are shown in ~ig. l(b) and (c), respectively.
Some magnetic properties of both the products having thicknesses of 0.05 mm and 0.1 mm are shown in Table 14. For comparison purposes, magnetic properties of prior art products are also shown in Table 14.
It is revealed from Table 14 that products obtained by a process in accordance with the invention have improved magnetic properties, espe-cially at high frequencies.

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Claims (7)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A process for the production of an electrical steel sheet having a ferritic single phase of the (100) [001]
oriented cube texture of iron or iron alloy, comprising the steps of:
cold rolling a sheet consisting essentially of a single crystal of iron or iron alloy, in which said single crystal is oriented so that the pole of the {114} plane may form an angle of not greater than 15° with the normal direction of plane of the sheet, and the <401> direction may form an angle of not greater than 15° with the longitudinal direction of the sheet, along the longitudinal direction of the sheet at a rolling reduction of at least 40%, and annealing the rolled sheet to form a primary recrystallization texture of fine grains of an average grain size of not larger than 5 mm under conditions preventing the occurrence of secondary recrystallization.

2. The process in accordance with claim 1 wherein the starting sheet has a thickness of from 50µ to 6.0 mm and cold rolled at a rolling reduction of at least 60%.

3. The process in accordance with claim 1 wherein the rolled sheet is annealed to form a primary recrystallization texture of fine grains of an average grain size of not larger than 2 mm.

4. The process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the iron alloy is an iron-silicon alloy containing up to 8 percent by weight silicon.

5. The process according to claim 1, wherein B10 of said electrical steel sheet is 19,000 to 19,200.

6. The process according to claim 1 wherein the steel sheet has 92 to 100 percent cubic texture.

7. The process according to claim 4 wherein the B10 value of the electrical steel sheet is 19,000 to 19,200 and the sheet has 92 to 100 percent cubic texture.