Morphologies and Influential Factors of Forsterite Film in Grain-Oriented Silicon Steel Original Research Article

The product quality of grain-oriented silicon steel may be affected by each process because of its complicated production technology. Morphologies, compositions and structures of forsterite film formed in different conditions on the samples subjected to high temperature annealing were measured by using a scanning electron microscope, an energy disperse spectroscope, an X-ray diffractometer and Fourier transform infrared technique respectively. The morphologies and influential factors of forsterite film were investigated. The results showed that the major component of forsterite film composed of light-gray spherical particles was Mg2SiO4, and the minor was MgAl2O4. If the amount of MgO coated on the surface of the steel was less, bare holes or even large-scale bare grains for forsterite film appeared. The higher temperature of water bath during decarburization annealing led to gaps of strips in forsterite film. Moreover, MgO coating method had great influence on forsterite film. Roller coating method was beneficial to increase compactness and smoothness of forsterite film, but was disadvantageous to its thickness.