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ICAMIM-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2390 (2022) 012030 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2390/1/012030

Investigation of the main factors affecting the magnetic

properties of silicon steel sheets by comparing three kinds of
silicon steel

Jianhui Zeng1, Liejun Li1*, Jixiang Gao2, Xiangdong Huo3 , Zhengwu Peng1
1
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Metal Materials Preparation and
Forming, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China
2
School of Mechatronic Engineering, Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University,
Guangzhou, 510665, China
3
School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013,
Jiangsu, China
*
Corresponding author’s e-mail: liliejun@scut.edu.cn

Abstract. As an important magnetic material, silicon steel is widespread used in various motors,
generators, relays and transformers. It is of great significance to explore the factors affecting the
magnetic properties of non-oriented silicon steel. This paper introduces the production process
of 50W800, 50W600 and 35W550 non-oriented silicon steel, and compares their magnetic
properties, observes the microstructure of silicon steel sheet under hot rolling, cold rolling and
annealing three technological states, analyzes the influence of sheet thickness, composition,
microstructure and impurity on the magnetic properties of non-oriented silicon steel. The results
can be summarized as follows: (1) The magnetic properties of the silicon steel sheet can be
improved to a certain extent by reducing the thickness of the silicon steel sheet.(2) Increasing
silicon content in a certain range can reduce core loss of silicon steel. (3) After annealing, the
grain size of cold rolled silicon steel sheet becomes larger, the defect of grain decreases, the loss
of iron core decreases, and the finished silicon steel sheet with good magnetic properties is
obtained.

1. Introduction
Fe-Si magnetically soft alloy (also known as electrical steel or silicon steel) is the most used soft
magnetic material in the world. The silicon content of silicon steel is generally about 0.5%-4%, and its
carbon content is very low, the silicon element in the silicon steel can improve the electrical resistivity
of the metal matrix, so as to reduce eddy current and magnetic hysteresis loss, increase the permeability
and weaken the magnetic aging phenomenon. Therefore, silicon steel can be used as an important
magnetic material in all kinds of motors, generators, relays and transformers, with a wide range of uses
and large quantities[1]. Currently, the thickness of non-oriented silicon steel commonly used is 0.35-
0.65 mm, and the minimum thickness of commonly used oriented electrical steel is 0.20-0.35 mm. Its
specifications are shown in table 1.Silicon steel is an important metal functional material for rotor core
of electric motor and generator in rotating magnetic field, which has good magnetic properties and
technological properties[2]. With the rapid growth of science and technology, the requirements for
silicon steel sheets are becoming more and more stringent, and it is urgent to produce silicon steel sheets
with lower iron loss and higher magnetic properties to save energy consumption[3]. At present, China

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ICAMIM-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2390 (2022) 012030 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2390/1/012030

has become the largest consumer and producer of electrical steel in the world. In 2021, the total output
of cold rolled electrical steel in China is 13.18 million tons, is an increase of 17.90 percent from the
same period in 2020[4]. Even to this day, as a widely used magnetic material, various research and
development of silicon steel is still in progress. There are many factors that affect the magnetic properties
of silicon steel, such as the thickness of silicon steel sheet, alloying elements, annealing process and so
on. This paper studies the affect factors of magnetic properties of non-oriented silicon steel, which can
guide production and provide reference for obtaining excellent magnetic properties of unoriented silicon
steel.

Table 1. Classification of electrical steel

Silicon Nominal
Category
content/% thickness/mm
Hot-rolled Hot rolled low silicon steel（Hot rolled
1.0-2.5 0.50
silicon steel motor steel）
Hot rolled high silicon steel（Hot rolled
3.4-4.5 0.35 and 0.50
transformer steel）
Non-Oriented Electrical Steel（Low
＜=0.5 0.50 and 0.65
carbon electrical steel）
Cold-rolled Silicon steel（Cold rolled motor steel） 0.5-3.2 0.35 and 0.50
silicon steel
Normal oriented silicon steel（Oriented
2.9-3.3 0.20, 0.23 and 0.27
silicon steel）
Highly magnetically oriented silicon steel
（Cold rolled transformer steel） 2.9-3.3 0.30 and 0.35

The magnetic induction strength and iron loss of non-oriented silicon steel are mainly affected by the
content of impurities in molten steel, silicon content, thickness of steel sheet, grain size and crystal
texture[5]. The iron loss (PT) of electrical steel consists of hysteresis loss (Ph) , eddy current loss (Pe)
and abnormal loss (Pa). With the same chemical composition and grain size, the thickness of cold rolled
sheet becomes one of the main factor affecting its magnetic properties and eddy current loss. The
classical formula of eddy current loss derived from Maxwell's equation:
1 𝜋2 𝑡 2 𝑓2 𝐵𝑚
2 𝑘2
𝑃𝑒 = 6 × 𝛾𝜌
× 10−3 (1)
In the formula:
t is the thickness of the steel sheet；
f is the frequency；
Bm is the maximum magnetic induction intensity；
k is the waveform factor；
γ is the density of material；
ρ is the resistivity of material.
As can be seen from equation 1, under the condition of constant material and external magnetic field,
eddy current loss is proportional to the square of sheet thickness, that is, when sheet thickness decreases,
eddy current loss decreases sharply, thus reducing the iron loss of non-oriented silicon steel. At the same
time, in order to obtain cold rolled sheet with different thickness, cold rolling reduction rate will
inevitably affect the recrystallization texture and recrystallization process during annealing, and then
affect the performance interval after annealing. Therefore, it is necessary to study the performance of
cold rolled sheet with different thickness and explore the influence of cold rolled sheet thickness on its
performance.

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ICAMIM-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2390 (2022) 012030 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2390/1/012030

2. Experiment
The three kinds of steel have the same chemical composition, but according to the needs of users, their
cold rolling reduction rate and annealing process is different, and their magnetic properties are different.
The content of silicon element in molten steel of silicon steel 50W800 and 50W600 is different, 50W600
and 35W550 hot rolled sheet raw materials are the same. The chemical components that affect the
properties of test steel are shown in the table 2. The production process of steel is shown in figure 1.

Table 2. The chemical composition of 50W800, 50W600 and 35W550 ( %)

Steel C Si Mn P S Als
50W800 0.0026 0.976 0.29 0.0162 0.0034 0.351
50W600 0.003 1.298 0.559 0.015 0.0023 0.311
35W550 0.003 1.298 0.559 0.015 0.0023 0.311

Figure 1. The production process of silicon steel

Two kinds of silicon steels with different iron loss were obtained from the same hot rolled sheet by
different rolling and annealing processes. During the rolling process, the silicon steels of 50W600 was
rolled six times, and the cold rolled reduction ratio was 24.4%, 25.0%, 25.6%, 24.1%, 23.6% and 25.7%
respectively, and the silicon steels of 35W550 was rolled seven times, and the cold rolled reduction ratio
was 23.6%, 26.7%, 26.3%, 26.0%, 25.0%, 25.4% and 25.5% respectively. In the annealing process, the
heating temperature of 50W600 is 915℃, the strip speed is 120m/min, the heating temperature of
35W550 is 950℃, the strip speed is 100m/min, the length of the annealing line is about 260m. Through
field sampling, magnetic properties, core loss performance and other data are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Finished product performance sheet

Surface Surface
Iron core Magnetic Tensile Elonga hardne
Steel Resistance Resistance
loss induction strength tion ss
grade (front) (negative)
(W/kg) B5000(T) Rm(MPa) A(%) (HV)
(Ω·mm²) (Ω·mm²)

50W800 4.438 1.742 3025 2245 389 34 116

50W600 3.869 1.706 1985 1773 410 34 128

35W550 3.16 1.695 754 701 392 32 122

Silicon steel plates with sample size of 10 mm×15 mm (TD×RD) were made, sanded and polished,
then corroded with 4% nitric acid solution for 10 seconds, and then washed and dried. The edge and
center of the steel strip were observed by metallographic microscope, and the changes of metallographic
structure were analyzed. The surface of TD×RD was tested by X-ray diffraction (XRD).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Experimental results

Microstructure of hot rolled sheet is shown in figure 2. Due to the extremely low carbon content of

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ICAMIM-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2390 (2022) 012030 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2390/1/012030

silicon steel, the microstructure of 50W600 and 35W550 silicon steel hot rolled plates on both sides is
mainly equiaxed ferrite, with a small amount of elongated fiber structure, while the grain in the center
is elongated and banded structure. The microstructure of the two kinds of steel shows obvious
"sandwich" structure [6] as shown in figure 3. The appearance of gradient texture is related to the actual
deformation conditions of each layer. In the hot rolling process, the surface is subjected to a larger
equivalent stress and the deformation temperature is lower, resulting in a higher dislocation density,
which effectively improves the recrystallization driving force. Therefore, the surface is dominated by
equiaxed grains produced by recrystallization.

Figure 2. Optical microstructures of the hot-rolled sheet: (a) magnified 50 times, (b) magnified 100
times

Microstructure of cold rolled sheet of 50W600 and 35W550 demonstrated in figure 4. After the cold
rolling process, plastic deformation occurs in the silicon steel, the internal grain is elongated, resulting
in a lot of crystal defects, forming a long fiber structure along the rolling direction. The silicon steel
sheet with favourable magnetic properties was obtained by cold rolling process and subsequent
annealing process. It can be seen that a large number of shear bands appear after cold rolling, and the
shear band is at an Angle of 10-30° with the rolling direction. With the increase of initial grain size, the
length and density of shear band increase. The deformation energy storage of shear zone is high, will
become a priority in the process of recrystallization nucleation position, at the same time, it is worth
noting that the large grain size compared to the small grain size in the process of plastic deformation
and strain coordination ability is poor, not like a small grain to achieve uniform deformation in the
process of plastic deformation, big grain samples generally in the form of non-uniform deformation,
deformation, promote the formation of shear band. The formation of a large number of shear bands has
an important effect on the subsequent recrystallization texture evolution.

Figure 3. Hot rolled sheet cold rolling process [6]

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ICAMIM-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2390 (2022) 012030 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2390/1/012030

Figure 4. Optical microstructures of the cold-rolled sheet: (a)50W600, (b)35W550

Microstructure of the 50W600 and 35W550 annealed sheet is demonstrated in figure 5. After
annealing, the fiber structure changes into irregular polygons. This is because after recrystallization, the
microstructure will return to a relatively complete, regular, stable equilibrium state with low free energy,
and the dislocations can be eliminated to obtain coarse crystalline grains. After annealing, the grain size
of cold rolled silicon steel sheet becomes larger, the defect of grain decreases, after the surface of
annealed silicon steel is coated with an insulating layer, the silicon steel sheet with good magnetic
properties and service performance can be obtained.
XRD tests were carried out on the surface of 50W600 samples with three different microstructure
states as shown in Figure 6. It was found that the diffraction peak intensity of (110) in the three
microstructure states was the highest, and the grains were greatly deformed after cold rolling. The
diffraction peak of (200) in the cold rolled sheet changed greatly, indicating that the texture had changed
greatly.

Figure 5. Optical microstructures of the annealed sheet: (a)50W600, (b)35W550

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ICAMIM-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2390 (2022) 012030 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2390/1/012030

Figure 6. XRD patterns of 50W600 hot rolled, cold rolled and annealed sheets

3.2. Analysis
By comparing the iron loss, magnetic induction intensity and surface resistance of the two steels, it can
be seen that the magnetic property of 35W550 is significantly better than that of 50W600, indicating
that reducing the thickness of silicon steel sheet according to the formula 1-1 can reduce the eddy current
loss and iron loss of the product and optimize the magnetic property of the product.
By comparing the iron loss, magnetic induction intensity and surface resistance of the two steels, it
can be seen that the magnetic property of 50W600 is significantly better than that of 50W800. Two most
important parameters of non - oriented silicon steel are magnetic induction intensity and iron loss. For
purpose of reduce the eddy current loss of core loss, silicon can be added to the steel to reduce the ferro-
saturated magnetostrictive constant of magnetic anisotropy, and the magnetic aging phenomenon caused
by the dissolubility of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen in α-Fe can also be reduced. However, as the silicon
content increases, silicon steel will become more brittle, and internal cracks may occur in the process of
processing, damaging its processing performance and service performance, so it is necessary to control
the content of silicon element in silicon steel.

4. Conclusions
In this paper, the production processes of 50W800, 50W600 and 35W550 non-oriented silicon steel
sheets are introduced, and their magnetic properties are compared. The microstructure of silicon steel
sheets under hot rolling, cold rolling and annealing conditions is observed. The influence of thickness,
composition, microstructure and impurities on the magnetic properties of unoriented silicon steel sheets
is analyzed, and draw the following conclusions.
(1) The magnetic properties of the silicon steel sheet can be improved to a certain extent by reducing
the thickness of the silicon steel sheet.
(2) Increasing silicon content in a certain range can reduce core loss of silicon steel.
(3) After annealing, the grain size of cold rolled silicon steel sheet becomes larger, the defect of grain
decreases, the loss of iron core decreases, and the finished silicon steel sheet with favourable magnetic
properties is obtained.
The next step should be to explore the influence of various alloying elements on mechanical
properties and magnetic properties of non-oriented silicon steel.

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Guangdong science and technology
project (2017B090907015); and Major Project of Zhongshan science and technology

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ICAMIM-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2390 (2022) 012030 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2390/1/012030

(191007102629094).

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