Towards online evaluation of Goss-texture in grain-oriented ferromagnetic sheets

We propose an experimental method for the identification of the crystal grain orientation in polycrystalline ferromagnetic materials with Goss texture. The grain orientation respect to the lamination plane is evaluated by a suitable contact-less vector measurement of the magnetic field under rotational polarization. First of all, the fundamental in-plane easy axis is detected. After that, the measured data are numerically processed, taking into account a cubic anisotropy grain model, suitably developed, in order to estimate the orientation of the other two crystal axes respect to the lamination plane. The comparison of the obtained results with Electron Back-Scattering Diffractometry (EBSD) measurements confirms the validity of the proposed approach. Multi-grain and single-crystal test specimens are analyzed in order to investigate the possibility to apply this method as on-line detection system.