Effects of warm temper rolling on microstructure, texture and magnetic properties of strip-casting 6.5 wt% Si electrical steel

6.5 wt% Si electrical steel thin sheets were produced by a processing route including strip casting, hot rolling, warm rolling, intermediate annealing, warm temper rolling and final annealing, in which the warm temper rolling reduction varied from 2.7% to 14.4%. A detailed study of the microstructural and textural evolutions through the whole processing route was carried out by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and electron backscattered diffraction analysis. The findings revealed that the final recrystallization microstructure, texture and magnetic properties relied heavily on the warm temper rolling reduction. As the warm temper rolling reduction increased from 2.7% to 14.4%, the finally recrystallized microstructures were more homogeneous and the average grain size was decreased. At the warm temper rolling reduction lower than 7.0%, the occurrence of the exaggeratedly large annealing grains which dominated the whole sheet thickness resulted in strong 〈001〉//ND fiber, parallel α-fiber, 〈111〉//ND fiber and many other strong hard-magnetization texture components. By contrast, at the warm temper rolling reduction higher than 7.0%, the recrystallization textures were characterized by weak 〈001〉//ND fiber, parallel α-fiber, 〈111〉//ND texture, together with fewer and weak hard-magnetization texture components. The mechanism responsible for the finally microstructural and textural changes was explained by strain induced boundary migration. As warm temper rolling reduction increased, the magnetic properties at high frequency were gradually improved due to smaller grain sizes and more desirable textures. The highest magnetic inductions of 1.383 T (B₈), 1.484 T (B₂₅) and 1.571 T (B₅₀) in combination with the lowest iron losses at high frequencies of 19.11 W/Kg (W_10/400) and 3.824 W/Kg (W_2/1000) were obtained at 14.4% warm temper rolling reduction under the applied condition. - Highlights: • 6.5 wt% Si electrical steel as-cast strip was produced by using strip casting. • Effects of warm temper rolling reduction was investigated in detail. • Evolution of microstructure and texture in whole processing route was clarified. • Best magnetic properties was obtained at 14.4% temper rolling reduction