Effect of texture and grain size on the magnetic flux density and core loss of cold-rolled high silicon steel sheets

The effects of texture and grain size on the magnetic flux density and core loss (50-20 kHz) of 0.23 mm-thick cold-rolled high silicon steel sheets are investigated by means of electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD), loss separation, and anisotropy parameter (ε) calculation. A model of the hysteresis loss coefficient kh considering average grain size and ε is established. The magnetic flux density at 800 A/m (B8) is closely related to the volume fraction of η-fiber-oriented grains, while the magnetic flux density at 5000 A/m (B50) is closely related to the volume fractions of γ- and λ-fiber-oriented grains in high silicon steel. The hysteresis loss of high silicon steel can be greatly reduced by increasing the grain size and optimizing the texture of the sheets. Although increases in frequencies decrease the effect of texture on core loss, the effect cannot be ignored. As annealing temperature and time increase, the relative difference in core loss between the rolling direction (RD) and the transverse direction (TD) is maintained at higher frequencies because of increases in grain size, decreases in γ texture, and maintenance of a strong η texture. Texture and grain size jointly affect the high-frequency core loss of high silicon steel.