Effect of aluminum content on austenite-ferrite transformation temperature in low carbon (Si-Al) hot rolled GNO electrical steels

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the synergistic effect of silicon and aluminum content on the austeniteferrite transformation temperatures on cooling (Ar3, Ar1) in non-oriented (GNO) Al-Si-low carbon electrical steel strips. Two specimens with different Al contents: A=0.22 wt% and B=0.61 wt%Al, were analyzed by “in-situ” high temperature X-ray diffraction experiments. The samples were austenitized at 1050 °C for 5 minutes and sequentially cooling in a stepwise manner by steps of 10 °C inside an environmental chamber installed in a Philips X’Pert multi-purpose diffractometer. X-ray diffraction patterns were recorded every 10 °C during cooling from 1000 to 720 °C. The austenite to ferrite transformation temperatures on cooling, Ar3 and Ar1, were estimated from changes in the intensities of the (110)-α and (111)-γ peaks as a function of temperature. The results of the experiments show that the transformation temperatures increase with increasing aluminum content from 0.22 to 0.61 wt%. In addition, the two-phase field (austenite + ferrite in the system Fe-C decreases with increasing silicon and aluminum contents for these GNO steels. X-Ray diffraction results were supported by microstructural observations of quenched samples of steel B which were subjected to similar heat treatment conditions than those applied in the X-ray diffractometer experiments. Thin ferrite films (~ 4-10 μm) were observed in the microstructure of specimens of steel B quenched from temperatures close to the experimental Ar3.