Study on precipitation and transition mechanisms from the magnetic properties of silicon steel during annealing

Precipitates play an important role in determining the mechanical and magnetic properties of silicon steel. This paper aims to investigate the growth kinetics of precipitates in commercial silicon steel by analyzing its magnetic properties during isothermal annealing at 200°C. The growth of precipitates was studied by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and magnetic measurements. In combination with the coercive field and initial susceptibility, this technique offers the advantage of being non-destructive and providing quantitative information about the number, mean radius of precipitates, and fraction of transformation. An observed decrease in the number of precipitated particles indicates that the transformation starts from particles of appreciable initial size.