Texture evolution of the surface layer of high silicon gradient electrical steel and influence on the magnetic properties

• A high silicon gradient electrical steel sheet with a Goss texture has been successfully prepared.
• The gradient electrical steel is composed of GO high silicon FeSi alloy coating and common GO electrical steel.
• By the GO substrate inducing, a Goss texture forms in the high silicon FeSi alloy coating.
• The formation of the Goss texture is attributed to the atomic rearrangement and/or grain rotation in the coating.
• The high silicon FeSi coating is a key factor influencing the holistic magnetic characteristics.

A high silicon gradient electrical steel sheet with Goss texture has been successfully prepared by a novel and simple process in this work. The FeSi alloy coating with high silicon concentration was firstly deposited on the surface of a common grain oriented electrical steel sheet substrate by cathodic arc plasma deposition technique and the coated sheet was then post-annealed at 850 °C for 6 h in a 70 % N2 – 30 % H2 mixed atmosphere. The results show that after annealing, an excellent Goss texture forms in the FeSi alloy coating with an average silicon concentration of about 6.5 wt. %. The high silicon FeSi alloy coating strongly influences the overall magnetic characteristics of the gradient electrical steel, and the saturation magnetizations of the grain oriented high silicon gradient electrical steel sheet along rolling direction and transverse directions of the substrate are at 251.5 and 233.0 emu/g, respectively.