In the last few decades, the magnetic properties of "classical" electrical steels have been elevated to the point where there is little economic justification for further improvements. Iron-silicon alloys have been known as magnetically soft materials for about 100 years (1900 Hadfield, Barret; 1902 Humlich), and work on improving them has continued over the course of that period. As a result, unit energy losses occurring during remagnetization of the alloys had been reduced nearly tenfold by the middle of the last century. This achievement was related mainly to optimization of the concentrations of silicon and process impurities, as well as to the use of cold rolling. The further improvement in the service properties of cold-rolled electrical steels particularly anisotropic steels was connected with the following developments: the introduction of a complex of optimum deformation-heat-treatment processes directed toward controlling secondary recrystallization in order to develop a fine cube-on-edge texture and obtain grains of the specified size and shape; a continued improvement in existing methods for ultra-refining in the solid state with the use of efficient gaseous media; the use of new inhibitors, including inhibitors with multiple components; optimization of the structure of the hot-rolled starting strip by normalization; the formation of a fine magnetic texture by special techniques (thermomechanical-magnetic treatment, the application of magnetoacoustic coatings, the creation of structural barriers, laser-based and other methods employing concentrated beams of energy). Together with other methods, decreasing the thickness of the cold-rolled sheet from 0.5-0.35 to 0.18-0.15 mm has significantly reduced remagnetization losses. The above technical and technological measures have made it possible to achieve the following levels of magnetic properties (anisotropic steels, sheet thickness 0.23-0.30 mm): unit losses P1.7/50 1.92 T. The costs of steel production are rising sharply as steel producers approach the physical limits of these properties: 25-30 years ago, a decrease in unit losses by 0.1 W/kg was achieved at a considerably lower cost than a 0.01-0.03 W/kg reduction is today. During the evolution of electrical steel production, there have been shifts from one class of electrical steels to another. For example, hot-rolled transformer steels fell out of favor during the 1960s. The properties of those steels had been improved to very high levels, but they could not compete with anisotropic cold-rolled steels. The next significant improvement in the properties of electrical steels was also related to the use of new classes of steels, particularly amorphous steels. The latter steels have magnetic properties that are markedly superior to the magnetic properties of conventional transformer steels. The transition to a new class of steels necessarily takes a certain amount of time, due to the need to master new production processes and have customers "get accustomed" to the new materials. Certain aspects of the use of anisotropic steels in products made for electrical power generation (transformers, chokes, different types of large magnetic cores) impose specific requirements on these materials requirements which differ from those that must be satisfied by amorphous alloys used in electronics, communications, and electrical applications that are unrelated to power generation: 9 high levels of magnetic properties and mechanical and processing characteristics, making it possible to make magnetic cores in a production line involving different mechanical operations (cutting, stamping, coiling, section-bending, etc.); 9 capability of high-volume production at levels incomparable to those achieved for electronic products from several thousand to hundred of thousands of tons (in the future);