Magnetic properties and magnetic domain structure of grain-oriented Fe-3%Si steel under compression

Abstract

The influence of an applied compressive stress on the magnetic properties and domain structure in Goss-textured (110) [001] Fe-3%Si steel is studied. The magnetic domains and magnetization processes were observed by longitudinal Kerr microscopy at different levels of compressive stress. With stress increase the domain structure without applied field evolves from 180° slab-like domains along the surface-parallel easy axis first into stress pattern I, then into the checkerboard pattern and finally into stress pattern II, in which all internal domains are oriented along the transverse axes. The magnetization process under compression is realized by surface closure [001] domains that grow into the bulk at the expense of transverse domains. The domain evolution by these three stress patterns is not practically noticeable in hysteresis curves above 10 MPa—they change continuously with the same effective field being valid for curves from 10 to 67 MPa. The comparison with previous measurements under different stress/cutting angle combinations shows that for the prediction of a constricted hysteresis loop it is sufficient to consider the energy difference between surface-parallel and transverse easy axes neglecting details of the spatial organization of transverse domains.