Institute of Metals Division - The Orientation Distribution of Surface-Energy-Induced {100} Secondary Grains in 3 Pct Si-Fe Sheets

The orientation distribution of surface-energy -induced secondary recrystallized grains was determined. This work was conducted on thin sheets of a 3 pct Si-Fe alloy annealed under environmental conditions that furor grouth of grains with a (100) plane in the surface of the sheet. The texture was found to be extremely sharp and almost independent of sheet thickness. The distribution varied exponentially with the angular deviation from the {100} plane. It was possible to relate the distribution to the nu-cleation rate of the secondary rains as influenced by the surface-energy difference. THE role of surface energy in the secondary grain growth of cube-oriented grains (grains with a (100) plane in the plane of the sheet) in thin Si-Fe sheets has been previously discussed.1-4 In high-purity sheet material normal grain growth usually occurs until the grains have extended through the sheet. Further grain growth is inhibited by the thermal grooving of the boundaries at the sheet surface. However, additional growth of cube grains can occur by a secondary grain growth process under conditions where the (100) plane has a lower surface energy than other orientations. Apparently for these alloys, cusps exist in the polar plot5 of surface free energy with the lowest cusp energy occurring at the (100) orientations. This has been reported to be the result of preferential adsorption of sulfur on the (100) planes.6 As a result of this process, a distribution of orientations could arise from two possible mechanisms. First, when a cusp is present in the polar plot of surface free energy, there are orientations inside the cusp that have a lower surface energy than elsewhere on the polar plot. Also, at sufficiently high temperatures, flat surfaces whose orientations are inside or just outside the cusp (depending on its shape) can often thermally etch, yielding a microscopically stepped surface of even lower surface energy. As a result, grains oriented close to cube would also have a lower surface free energy, either because of the cusp shape or by thermal etching, and could possibly grow as secondary grains by the surface-energy phenomenon. One should thus observe a distribution in the surface orientation of the cube grains comprising the secondary structure. It is the purpose of this paper to investigate this orientation distribution experimentally and to discuss the factors involved in its formation. For this purpose, the surface orientations of a large number of secondary grains in various sheet thickness were determined by means of the Laue back-reflection X-ray technique. PROCEDURE A vacuum-melted 3 pct Si-Fe alloy containing a nominal impurity content of 0.005 wt pct was processed into strip. A single cold-rolling step of 90 pct reduction was used for each strip regardless of the final sheet thickness. Final strip thicknesses of 0.60, 0.30, 0.15, and 0.075 mm were used. Care was taken to insure that the final strip surface was smooth and flat. All strips of a given thickness were annealed together at 1200°C in dry hydrogen (dew point -70°C) to develop the desired secondary structure and to insure identical environmental annealing conditions. The annealing time was selected to develop a complete secondary structure in the thinner sheets but to permit the thicker sheets (0.60 mm) to have residual primary grains remaining. This was necessary to determine whether growth impingement could lead to one secondary grain consuming another at a greater angular deviation. For the X-ray determination of the surface orientation of the secondary grains, a special specimen holder was used. The camera and holder arrangement could be aligned by X-raying a grain in three positions rotated 180 deg to each other. Thus, with a small beam X-ray focus (1 mm), the surface orientation of any grain could be determined to within one-half a degree. The surface orientations of one hundred cube secondary grains were determined for each sheet thickness. The criteria of a secondary grain were its size relative to the sheet thickness and the number of sides of the grain observed in the sheet surface. (A primary recrystallized grain extending through a sheet will generally have six edges visible in the plane of the sheet, whereas a secondary grain will have many more when growing entirely into primary grains.) Grains were selected as randomly as possible by X-raying every secondary grain found along a line drawn on the strip. No attempt was made to determine the exact orientation of the planes of the surface, as many strips from randomly selected sheets were used. On1y the angular deviation of the surface plane from {100} was measured. In order to assess the volume distribution in the