Goss texture evolution of grain oriented silicon steel by high-energy X-ray diffraction

High energy synchrotron diffraction offers great potential to study the recrystallization kinetics of metallic materials. To study the formation of Goss texture ({110}h001i) of grain oriented (GO) silicon steel during secondary recrystallization process, an in situ experiment using high energy X-ray diffraction was designed. The results showed that the secondary recrystallization began when the heating temperature was 1,494 K, and the grains grew rapidly above this temperature. With an increase in annealing temperature, the large grains with γ orientation [h111i//normal direction] formed and gradually occupied the dominant position. As the annealing temperature increased even further, the grains with Goss orientation to a very large size by devouring the γ orientation grains that formed in the early annealing stage. A single crystal with a Goss orientation was observed in the GO silicon steel when the annealing temperature was 1,540 K. © The Chinese Society for Metals and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.