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In this study, S1 and S2 with different Mn-Si contents and Mn/Si mass ratios are prepared for the film deposition and interfacial heat transfer experiments using the droplet solidification technique. The effect of Mn-Si contents and Mn/Si mass ratios on the film deposition and interfacial heat transfer behaviour are investigated. The results revealed that the increase of Mn content (from 0.403 wt.% to 0.621 wt.%) and Si content (from 0.145 wt.% to 0.171 wt.%) resulted in a higher film deposition rate (from 1.23μm to 1.43μm per droplet test), as evidenced by the enhancement of thickness (from 11.07 μm to 12.86 μm), particle size (from 1250 nm to 1340 nm), and surface roughness (from 2.580 μm to 3.217 μm) of the deposited film after 9 experiments. Moreover, an increase in the Mn/Si mass ratio of the sample from 2.78–3.63 leads to a corresponding enhancement (from 65.67 wt.% to 71.02 wt.%) in the MnO content within the film. As a result, the melting point (from 1319°C to 1348°C) and thermal resistance of the obtained film exhibit a gradual increase, thereby limiting the extent of improvement in interfacial contact conditions and ultimately diminishing the enhancement of interfacial heat transfer behaviour by the deposited film. Additionally, the transition point in interfacial heat transfer behaviour occurs earlier for a higher Mn and Si content and higher Mn/Si mass ratio due to a higher film deposition rate and melting point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elaboration of suitable NdFeB‐based permanent magnets is essential for high‐performance electrical machines in a number of applications. In this respect, the understanding of the relationship between heat transfer phenomena and the final solidified microstructure is the key to the control of the grain size and the improvement of the magnetic properties. The problem is even more acute with the emergence of new manufacturing processes, such as the laser powder bed fusion, where the cooling rates are much higher than those encountered in the standard strip casting process and where the microstructure can be considered as fixed from the fabrication step. The objective of the present work is to identify correlations between interstructural spacings in the solidified alloys and cooling conditions. This study is based on a methodology coupling experimental and numerical simulation approaches featuring three solidification processes: strip casting, arc melting, and laser fusion. The obtained results cover more than four orders of magnitude in terms of cooling rates R and allow to propose a reliable empirical relationship between the interstructural spacing λ and R of the form λ [μm] = 83 R [K s−1]−0.36. This relation can thus be used to estimate cooling rates from metallographic observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interfacial wettability and heat transfer behavior are crucial in the strip casting of high phosphorus-containing steel. A high-temperature simulation of strip casting was conducted using the droplet solidification technique with the aims to reveal the effects of phosphorus content on interfacial wettability, deposited film, and interfacial heat transfer behavior. Results showed that when the phosphorus content increased from 0.014wt% to 0.406wt%, the mushy zone enlarged, the complete solidification temperature delayed from 1518.3 to 1459.4°C, the final contact angle decreased from 118.4° to 102.8°, indicating improved interfacial contact, and the maximum heat flux increased from 6.9 to 9.2 MW/m2. Increasing the phosphorus content from 0.081wt% to 0.406wt% also accelerated the film deposition rate from 1.57 to 1.73 µm per test, resulting in a thickened naturally deposited film with increased thermal resistance that advanced the transition point of heat transfer from the fifth experiment to the third experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional book casting of Sm2TM17-type alloys (where TM = Co, Fe, Cu, Zr) leads to a coarse, highly segregated microstructure, predominantly due to the slow, variable cooling rate from the mould surface towards the centre of the ingot. These cast alloys require a long homogenisation treatment to remove this segregation and develop a super-saturated, metastable SmTM7-type hexagonal phase. This SmTM7 phase is a vital precursor phase required during magnet production to develop the complex cellular structure responsible for high magnetic properties. In this work, strip casting was employed to facilitate rapid solidification to develop thin flakes (<0.5 mm thick) with a columnar grain structure. Rapid cooling has the potential to produce a homogenous microstructure consisting predominantly of the metastable SmTM7 phase. This could remove or significantly reduce the need for the energy-intensive homogenisation treatment usually required in conventional magnet manufacture. This paper investigates the effect of wheel speed (and hence cooling rate) on flake thickness, microstructure, and phase balance of the cast alloys. It was shown that for wheel speeds between 1.1 and 3.0 m/s, the microstructure showed large variation; however, in all cases, evidence of the columnar SmTM7 phase was presented. The adhesion between the melt and the wheel was deemed to be critical for the nucleation and subsequent columnar growth of SmTM7 grains, where the wheel speed controlled both the flow of the alloy onto the wheel and the thickness of the resultant flake. It was determined that in order to achieve a homogenous columnar SmTM7 structure, the maximum flake thickness should be limited to 270 μm to avoid the formation of equiaxed Sm2TM17 grains through insufficient cooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-oriented Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy cast strip with a width of 100 mm and a thickness of 1.7 mm was prepared by the top side-pouring twin-roll-casting (TSTRC) process. The surface quality of the air-cooled and water-cooled cast strip was good. Compared with the Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy ingot, the Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy cast strip has a fine solidification structure and exhibits certain plasticity at room temperature. Microhardness, XRD, and TEM investigated the ordered structure and degree of Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloys prepared by three different cooling methods. The results show that the Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy ingot prepared by the standard method has many B2-ordered phases and D03-ordered phases, and the order degree is high. The Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy cast strip prepared by the TSTRC process has a low degree of order and only contains a small B2-ordered phase. The faster cooling rate effectively inhibits the formation of the D03-ordered phase and B2-ordered phase. The growth of the ordered phase also reduces the reverse domain boundary energy, reduces the motion resistance of superdislocations, and increases its mobility, thereby improving the room temperature plasticity of Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy cast strips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twin‐roll strip casting is a near‐net‐shape casting technology that can produce thin steel strips directly from molten steel. Stably controlling the molten steel level is regarded as an important issue to ensure strip quality and casting process stability. As the control of the molten steel level is a time‐varying, nonlinear, and multidisturbance complex system, it is difficult to establish an accurate process model for designing a model‐based controller. Top side‐pouring twin‐roll casting is a new kind of twin‐roll strip casting technology. This study introduces the control system of the top side‐pouring twin‐roll casting process. A fuzzy logic controller (FLC) with its fuzzy rules optimized by particle swarm optimization (PSO) is developed to regulate the molten steel level. Simulation results show that the performance of the FLC can be improved while its fuzzy rules are optimized by PSO. The objective function of PSO has a great influence on the optimization of the fuzzy rules. The top side‐pouring twin‐roll casting experiments are carried out using the FLC with its fuzzy rules optimized by PSO; the results show that strip quality and casting process stability are guaranteed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional book casting of Sm2TM17-type alloys (where TM = Co, Fe, Cu, Zr) leads to a coarse, highly segregated microstructure, predominantly due to the slow, variable cooling rate from the mould surface towards the centre of the ingot. These cast alloys require a long homogenisation treatment to remove this segregation and develop a super-saturated, metastable SmTM7-type hexagonal phase. This SmTM7 phase is a vital precursor phase required during magnet production to develop the complex cellular structure responsible for high magnetic properties. In this work, strip casting was employed to facilitate rapid solidification to develop thin flakes (7 phase. This could remove or significantly reduce the need for the energy-intensive homogenisation treatment usually required in conventional magnet manufacture. This paper investigates the effect of wheel speed (and hence cooling rate) on flake thickness, microstructure, and phase balance of the cast alloys. It was shown that for wheel speeds between 1.1 and 3.0 m/s, the microstructure showed large variation; however, in all cases, evidence of the columnar SmTM7 phase was presented. The adhesion between the melt and the wheel was deemed to be critical for the nucleation and subsequent columnar growth of SmTM7 grains, where the wheel speed controlled both the flow of the alloy onto the wheel and the thickness of the resultant flake. It was determined that in order to achieve a homogenous columnar SmTM7 structure, the maximum flake thickness should be limited to 270 μm to avoid the formation of equiaxed Sm2TM17 grains through insufficient cooling.

The evolution of shear band (SB) and texture in strip-cast electrical steel was studied in order to investigate the crystallographic character of SB and its influence on recrystallization texture. Shear deformation in the form of SB played an effective role in tailoring the local lattice rotation to accommodate heavy deformation in the case of inhomogeneous deformation under conditions of initial coarse grain in strip-cast electrical steel. During rolling process, η-oriented SBs appeared at different stages of deformation as a result of geometric softening. Cube-oriented SB was mainly retained from initial exact Cube grain at early stage of shear deformation and Goss-oriented SB was newly developed during the formation of γ-fiber matrix after heavy deformation. {210} SB formed as a transition form among different SBs. Crystal rotation inside SB, SB dimension and SB boundary misorientation progressed in proportion to cold rolling reduction. It is demonstrated that crystallographic direction of SBs tended to be parallel to under the driving force of reduction in stored energy to maintain relatively quasi-stable state. Low orientation gradient as well as relatively low density of dislocations was developed within SB region, while high orientation gradient formed between SB region and surrounding matrix. Interestingly, the η-oriented cell blocks inside SBs provided preferential nucleation sites for Goss and Cube texture at early stage of recrystallization, which significantly contributed to beneficial recrystallization texture in a manner of texture inheritance and superior magnetic properties (B50 was as high as 1.81 T, and P1.5/50 was as low as 4.0 W/kg).

As a near-net-shape technology, the twin-roll strip casting (TRC) process can be considered to apply to the fabrication of TiAl alloy sheets. However, the control of the grain distribution is very important in strip casting because the mechanical properties of strips are directly determined by the solidification microstructure. A threedimensional (3D) cellular automation finite-element (CAFE) model based on ProCAST software was established to simulate the solidification microstructure of Ti-43Al alloy. Then, the influence of casting temperature and the maximum nucleation density (nmax) on the solidification microstructure was investigated in detail. The simulation results provide a good explanation and prediction for the solidification microstructure in the molten pool before leaving the kissing point. Experimental and simulated microstructure show the common texture <001> orientation in the columnar grains zone. Finally, the microstructure evolution of the Ti-43Al alloy was analyzed and the solidification phase transformation path during the TSC process was determined, i.e., L → L+β → β → β+α → α+γ+β/B2 phase under a faster cooling rate and L → L+β → β → β+α → γ+lamellar (α2+γ)+β/B2 phase under a slower cooling rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First, strip cast samples of high strength microalloyed steel with sub-rapid solidification characteristics were prepared by simulated strip casting technique. Next, the isothermal growth of austenite grain during the reheating treatment of strip casts was observed in situ through confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM). The results indicated that the time exponent of grains growth suddenly rise when the isothermal temperature higher than 1000°C. And the activation energy for austenite grain growth were calculated to be 538.0 kJ/mol in the high temperature region (above 1000°C) and 693.2 kJ/mol in the low temperature region (below 1000°C), respectively. Then, the kinetics model of austenite isothermal growth was established, which can predict the austenite grain size during isothermal hold very well. Besides, high density of second phase particles with small size was found during the isothermal hold at the low temperature region, leading to the refinement of austenite grain. After isothermal hold at different temperature for 1800 s, the bainite transformation in microalloyed steel strip was also observed in situ during the continuous cooling process. And growth rates of bainite plates with different nucleation positions and different prior austenite grain size (PAGS) were calculated. It was indicated that the growth rate of the bainite plate is not only related to the nucleation position but also to the PAGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The comparisons of wear resistance and heat transfer behaviours of chromium and brass were conducted. The effects of different values of chromium coating average roughness (1.240, 4.576, 7.388, 9.323 μm) and thickness (15, 35, 55 μm) on the interfacial heat transfer behaviours were investigated with a novel droplet solidification technique. The results revealed that, compared with the brass, the chromium material has a significant improvement in the Vickers hardness and wear performance and a reduction of 25 percent interfacial heat transfer rate. Moreover, with the increase of the coating average roughness from 1.240 to 7.388 μm, the maximum heat flux between molten steel and cooling substrate decreases from 8.27 to 5.56 MW/m2 due to the enlargement of the air gap. As the coating average roughness further increases to 9.323 μm, the maximum heat flux increases to 6.50 MW/m2 because of the increasing contact area between molten steel and the cooling substrate. In addition, the maximum heat flux was reduced from 8.47 to 5.87 MW/m2, considering the enhancement of interfacial thermal resistance when the coating thickness increases from 15 to 55 μm. The results obtained have important implications for heat transfer control of the strip casting process by adjusting the coating average roughness and thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, two near-net-shape continuous casting technologies (strip casting and compact strip production) were used to produce a typical Si–Mn bearing Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) slab/strip, aiming to provide a clear understanding on the cooling rate on the solidification structure and corresponding properties. The results showed that strip casting (SC) technology under sub-rapid cooling conditions owns a higher heat transfer efficiency, and the solidified grains have been obviously uniformed and refined. Meanwhile, a substituted quenching process has been completed under high cooling strength of SC, leading the structural transformation from the initial ferrite/pearlite to the composite structure of martensite and bainite, which provides a very good structural basis for the excellent comprehensive mechanical performance of Si–Mn AHSS.

A novel Nb–V–Mo microalloyed steel with 1 GPa yield strength and high ductility was developed by strip casting. The effects of hot rolling on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Nb–V–Mo microalloyed steel were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, atom probe tomography and tensile tests. Both the as-cast and hot-rolled specimens exhibit a microstructure characterized by lath-like bainite and (Nb, V, Mo)C clusters, while the bainite lath was refined after hot rolling. Tensile test results show obvious improvements in the yield strength, tensile strength, and elongation of the hot-rolled specimen (1008 MPa, 1075 MPa, 20.1 %, respectively), compared to that of the as-cast ones (879 MPa, 978 MPa, 19.0 %, respectively). Additionally, the hot-rolled specimen displays a similar dislocation multiplication and storage capacity to the as-cast specimen, resulting in a comparable work-hardening capability during plastic deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solidification process in strip casting using a vertical-type high-speed twin-roll caster was clarified by inserting a 0.1 mm diameter K-type thermocouple into a strip during casting. The roll speeds of the copper rolls were 10 m/min and 30 m/min, and the roll loads were 5 kN and 20 kN. Al-Si alloys with a Si content of 2%, 6%, and 12% were used to investigate the influence of latent heat and viscosity in the semisolid state. The strip temperature increased after exiting the rolls. This indicated that the inside of the strip had not completely solidified at the roll bite, and secondary cooling was necessary to rapidly solidify the inside of the strip. The distance from the roll bite to the solidification starting position ranged from 30 mm to 63 mm. The cooling rate and degree of supercooling increased as the Si content decreased. The cooling rate ranged from 400 °C/s to 4000 °C/s. The cooling rate and degree of supercooling decreased as the viscosity of the semisolid increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In strip casting grain-oriented silicon steels, the inheritance of coarse λ grains (〈100〉//ND, normal direction) can deteriorate their magnetic properties. To solve the problem, twinning behaviors in strip casting grain-oriented silicon steels during hot rolling were investigated in this work. It is found that after rolling at 650℃, a number of 112〈111〉deformation twins are formed in the coarse solidification microstructure of the steels, in contrast to the well-accepted view that it is difficult to trigger twinning at relatively high temperature in the grain-oriented silicon steels with high stacking-fault energy. The results indicate that the complex stress state during hot rolling may weaken the orientation dependence of deformation twinning. Due to higher stored energy, the intersections of twin/twin boundaries and twin/grain boundaries can act as the preferential nucleation sites for the recrystallized grains during normalizing annealing, leading to a significant increase of recrystallization rate. Because of the restriction from local strain partitioning and the limited size between the twins, the shape of new-formed recrystallized grains is mainly plate-shaped. Consequently, the fine grains with scattered orientations are formed in the normalized microstructure and the coarse λ grains in the solidification microstructure are eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three TWIP steels based on the composition Fe-23Mn-3Si-3.3Al with different carbon concentrations were examined. The alloys were produced by rapid solidification in an experimental apparatus designed to simulate direct strip casting conditions. Examination of the driving force for solidification for this alloy showed the preference for BCC and FCC solidification were very close for this composition, within 10% of one another. This factor combined with the high undercooling resulted in the change in the primary solidified phase. Chemical analysis of the as-cast strip showed inter-dendritic segregation of Si and Al, but negligible segregation of Mn. A simple heat treatment was sufficient to chemically homogenise all alloys and produce microstructures comprising a fully austenitic structure, consistent with thermodynamic predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The solidification process in strip casting using a vertical-type high-speed twin-roll caster was clarified by inserting a 0.1 mm diameter K-type thermocouple into a strip during casting. The roll speeds of the copper rolls were 10 m/min and 30 m/min, and the roll loads were 5 kN and 20 kN. Al-Si alloys with a Si content of 2%, 6%, and 12% were used to investigate the influence of latent heat and viscosity in the semisolid state. The strip temperature increased after exiting the rolls. This indicated that the inside of the strip had not completely solidified at the roll bite, and secondary cooling was necessary to rapidly solidify the inside of the strip. The distance from the roll bite to the solidification starting position ranged from 30 mm to 63 mm. The cooling rate and degree of supercooling increased as the Si content decreased. The cooling rate ranged from 400 °C/s to 4000 °C/s. The cooling rate and degree of supercooling decreased as the viscosity of the semisolid increased.

Twin-roll strip casting (TRSC) technology has unique advantages in the production of non-oriented electrical steel. However, the hot deformation behavior of high-grade electrical steel produced by TRSC has hardly been reported. This work systematically studied the hot deformation behavior of free-Al 2.43 wt.% Si electrical steel strip produced by twin-roll strip casting. During the simulated hot rolling test, deformation reduction was set as 30%, and the ranges of deformation temperature and strain rate were 750~950 °C and 0.01~5 s -1 , respectively. The obtained true stress-strain curves show that the peak true stress decreased with an increase in the deformation temperature and with a decrease in the strain rate. Then, the effect of hot deformation parameters on microstructure and texture was analyzed using optical microstructure observation, X-ray diffraction, and electron backscattered diffraction examination. In addition, based on the obtained true stress-strain curves of the strip cast during hot deformation, the constitutive equation for the studied silicon steel strip was established, from which it can be found that the deformation activation energy of the studied steel strip is 83.367 kJ/mol. Finally, the kinetics model of dynamic recrystallization for predicting the recrystallization volume percent was established and was verified by a hot rolling experiment conducted on a rolling mill.

Given the sub-rapid solidification characteristics of twin-roll strip casting (TRSC), the solidification structure and growth process of precipitates during aging treatment were studied. The results showed that TRSC could refine the solidification structure and inhibit the microsegregation of Cu-3.2Ni-0.75Si alloy. During aging treatment, the precipitates mainly consisted of rod β-Ni3Si and disk δ-Ni2Si. The precipitate size was increased by increasing the aging time, which altered the mechanism of precipitation strengthening. Also, the experimental results indicated that precipitate strengthening arises either from the cutover mechanism or from the Orowan mechanism. Furthermore, the Avrami equation, which describes the kinetics of phase transformation and electrical conductivity during aging were established for the Cu-Ni-Si alloy, and the calculated results are consistent with the data. The Cu-3.2Ni-0.75Si alloy after aging treatment at 450 °C for 4 h exhibited optimum performance, and the tensile strength and electrical conductivity were as high as 711 MPa and 43.2% IACS, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twin-roll strip casting technology was introduced into the process of manufacturing invar alloy. Using optical microscope， XRD， EBSD， micro hardness(HV) and tensile testing instruments， the evolution of microstructure， texture and mechanical properties of the strip-casted invar alloy were investigated. The results show that the solidification microstructure of the strip-casted invar alloy is dominated by the coarse columnar grains of austenite and the associated texture is mainly the strong λ-fiber texture(<100>//ND). Thereafter， a large amount of deformation substructures are formed during a cold-rolling process， which increase the hardness(HV) from 165 to 230~240， and the cold-rolled texture is mainly composed by the typical copper texture (112<111>) and S texture (123<634>). A recrystallization microstructure containing numerous annealing twins together with a weak texture is observed in the 0.7mm-thick sheet after annealing at 700℃ for 10min. The yielding strength， tensile strength and final elongation are 293MPa， 433MPa and 33.4%， respectively， which are similar to those of the 0.7mm-thick annealed sheet produced by the conventional process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antimicrobial and corrosion properties of Cu‐bearing steels fabricated via simulated strip casting are examined. Two distinct microstructures are observed: those alloys with Cu concentrations below 5 wt% retain the Cu in solid solution, and those alloys with high Cu concentrations form a two‐phase structure containing an austenite matrix and large Cu‐rich precipitates. The alloys display antimicrobial properties against Escherichia coli, causing up to 65% of bacteria death upon direct contact for 24 h. Surface analysis by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that after exposure to bacteria, the surface passive film remains enriched in Cu and its oxides, and immersion studies confirm gradual release of Cu ions from the passive film in a wet environment. Corrosion testing of the Cu alloys demonstrates that when the copper is retained in solid solution, the corrosion behavior is not markedly different from the copper‐free reference alloy. However, in those higher‐concentration alloys that contain Cu‐rich precipitates, the anticorrosion performance of the steel is greatly deteriorated, with the corrosion mechanism changing from pitting corrosion to selective corrosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 3 %Si-Fe cast strip with equiaxed grains is prepared by the top side-pouring twin-roll casting method. • Goss grains can nucleate in {1 1 1} 〈1 1 2〉 deformed grains during annealing the cold-rolled sample. • Dispersed MnS can be formed after annealing the cold-rolled sample. • Short-process preparation of grain-oriented electrical steel can be achieved. The conventional production line of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) is long and the columnar grains in the cast slabs have adverse effects on GOES. In this paper, the short preparation process for GOES using top side-pouring twin-roll strip casting (TSTRC) was investigated. The results show that TSTRC can prepare cast strips with equiaxed grains. Conventional slab reheating, hot rolling, and normalization can be eliminated. The origin of Goss grains and the preparation of inhibitors were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effect of the hot-cold rolling process on the evolution of the microstructure, texture and magnetic properties of strip-cast non-oriented electrical steel was investigated by introducing hot rolling with different reductions. The results indicate that hot rolling with an appropriate reduction, such as the 20% used in this study, increases the shear bands and {100} deformed microstructure in the cold roll sheet. As a result, in our study, enhanced η and Cube recrystallization texture and the improved magnetic induction were obtained. However, hot rolling with excessive reduction (36–52%) decreased the shear bands and increased the α-oriented deformation microstructure with low stored energy. It enhanced the α recrystallization texture and weakened the η texture, resulting in a decrease in the magnetic induction. In addition, hot rolling promoted the precipitation of supersaturated solid solution elements in the as-cast strip, thereby affecting the subsequent microstructure evolution and the optimization of its magnetic properties.

A dual phase steel has been produced directly from the liquid under conditions that simulate direct strip casting and thin slab casting. The kinetics of polygonal ferrite formation during the inter-critical anneal were quantified using the JMAK approach, and this revealed significantly retarded transformation kinetics in the strip cast samples compared to the commercial steel that was processed through the conventional hot rolling approach. The transformation rate in the strip cast samples were as much as three orders of magnitude slower compared to the commercial steel. It was found that the kinetics of the ferrite formation were retarded principally by the large prior austenite grain size in the strip cast samples, and this hypothesis was tested experimentally by both coarsening of the prior austenite grain size, and by refinement of the prior austenite grain size. However, even after grain size normalization, small differences in transformation kinetics between the direct strip cast and commercial steel specimens were observed. These differences were explained by investigation of MnS precipitation in the steels. It was found that the transformation rate is high when the solutes are in solid solution, and that the rate of transformation slows significantly when precipitation of nano-precipitates occurs.

Based on conventional hot rolling processes and strip casting processes, Cu precipitation strengthening is used to improve the strength of non-oriented silicon steel in order to meet the requirements of high-speed driving motors of electric vehicles. Microstructure evolution was studied, and the effects of Cu precipitates on magnetic and mechanical properties are discussed. Compared with conventional processes, non-oriented silicon steel prepared by strip casting exhibited advantages with regard to microstructure optimization with coarse grain and {100} texture. Two-stage rolling processes were more beneficial for uniform microstructure, coarse grains and improved texture. The high magnetic induction B50 of 1.762 T and low core losses with P1.5/50, P1.0/400 and P1.0/1000 of 1.93, 11.63 and 44.87 W/kg, respectively, were obtained in 0.20 mm sheets in strip casting. Cu precipitates significantly improved yield strength over ~120 MPa without deteriorating magnetic properties both in conventional process and strip casting. In the peak stage aged at 550 °C for 120 min, Cu precipitates retained bcc structure and were coherent with the matrix, and the yield strength of the 0.20 mm sheet was as high as 501 MPa in strip casting. The main mechanism of precipitation strengthening was attributed to coherency strengthening and modulus strengthening. The results indicated that balanced magnetic and mechanical properties can be achieved in thin-gauge non-oriented silicon steel with Cu addition in strip casting.

Iron–silicon alloys with up to 6.5 wt.% Si offer an improvement of soft magnetic properties in electrical steels compared to conventional electrical steel grades. However, steels with high Si contents are very brittle and cannot be produced by cold rolling. In addition to solid solution hardening, it is assumed that the B2- and DO3-superlattice structures are responsible for the poor cold workability. In this work, two cast strips with 6.0 wt.% Si were successfully produced by the twin roll strip casting process and cooled differently by secondary cooling. The aim of the different cooling strategies was to suppress the formation of the embrittling superlattice structures and thus enable further processing by cold rolling. A comprehensive material characterization allows for the understanding of the influence of casting parameters and cooling strategies on segregation, microstructure and superlattice structure. The results show that both cooling strategies are not sufficient to prevent the formation of B2- and DO3-structures. Although the dark field images show a condition which is far from equilibrium, the achieved condition is not sufficient to ensure cold processing of the material.

Strip cast samples with different copper content have been developed by simulated direct strip casting. The as-cast microstructures were characterized by optical microscopy and electron microscopy. The microstructures mainly consisted of polygonal ferrite and Widmanstatten ferrite in as cast condition. X-ray diffraction showed that the copper was in solid solution in the as-cast condition. It was found that the equivalent tensile yield and maximum strengths, both increased with an increase in copper content. The strip cast samples were cold rolled to 70% reduction and then annealed isothermally at 600, 650 and 700 °C for various times to study the recrystallization and precipitation kinetics. After annealing, the hardness and strength were found to be decreased due to recovery and recrystallization. It was found that an increase in copper content retarded the recrystallization kinetics. During annealing, precipitation of copper was observed. The copper precipitates were bimodal with respect to particle size and distribution. The size and spacing of the particles were measured and the Zener pinning effect of the particles was calculated. High pinning forces of more than 2 MPa were predicted, and this correlated well with the observed decrease in recrystallization kinetics.