Microstructure evolution in grain-oriented silicon steels produced by nitriding technique

The nitriding technology is one of slab low reheating temperature technology, and then is widely used in electrical steel production enterprises. The microstructure evolution was studied by metallographic analysis and ODF method. The results show that textures of the hot-rolled and normalized sheets reveal uneven distribution in thickness direction, and 110<001> texture of hot rolled sheet is the strongest on the 1/4 thickness distribution. The cold-rolled textures are mainly α-fiber and γ-fiber. After decarburizing annealing, α-fiber texture decreases dramatically, and 111<112> texture is strengthened, and nitriding texture is not changed. A few small island grains appears in the secondary recrystallization grains, the small grain of 001<100> texture cannot be swallowed by Goss of grain.