Abstract: Using 2.98 % Si non-oriented silicon steel produced in an industrial field as the experimental material, six different normalizing processes were designed in this paper. The effects of different normalizing temperatures and holding time on the microstructures and surface textures of 2.98 % Si non-oriented silicon steel were studied by metallographic microscope and X-ray diffractometer. The results showed that the microstructures of hot rolled plate were composed of recrystallized grains with fine grain size and elongated deformed grains. The surface textures were dominated by strong Goss texture, and the components of  α  texture and λ  texture were extremely weak. After normalizing at 900 ℃×3 min, some grains were not recrystallized, resulting in the distribution of long strip deformation structure in the central layer, and the average grain size was 59 μm. After normalizing at 1 000 ℃×5 min, the recrystallized grains grew non-uniformly, and the average grain size reached 233 μm. After normalizing at  950 ℃×5 min and 1 000 ℃×3 min, the microstructure uniformity was significantly improved, and the average grain sizes were 132 μm and 143 μm respectively, within the optimal grain size range. The surface textures of the normalized plate were mainly composed of Goss texture and {110}〈112〉 texture, which were mostly inherited from the hot rolled plate with only difference in strength. Increasing the normalizing temperature or prolonging the holding time within a reasonable parameter range can reduce the intensity of the γ  texture.

Key words: non-oriented silicon steel, normalizing, grain size, microstructure, texture