Effects of segregated sulfur on recrystallization texture and magnetic induction in thin-gauged 3 % silicon steel

During final annealing at 1200°C under a high vacuum, changes in recrystallization texture with final annealing time were observed in thin-gauged 3 % Si-Fc alloys. In the alloy containing 30 ppm bulk sulfur, the recrystallization texture varied from the {111} <uvw> to the {001} <uv\v> and finally to the {110}<001> Goss texture, resulting in higher magnetic induction than 1.90 T. The trough in magnetic induction, which corresponds to the relatively high surface-segregated sulfur rangeais due to the magnetically detrimental effect of those textures, i.e. the {111} <uvw> and the {001} <uvw>. In the alloy containing 6 ppm bulk sulfur, the correlation between magnetic induction and surface-segregated sulfur was.the same as that in the other alloy. These results clearly indicate that the surface energy induced recrystallization in the thin-gauged 3 % Si-Fc alloys is strongly affected by the segregation and the evaporation of sulfur.