A finite element method for modelling of anisotropic grain-oriented steels

Grain-oriented electrical steels are highly anisotropic by design. An optimised grain growth is induced during their manufacturing process in order to ensure that the global easy direction of magnetisation lies in the rolling direction of the steel sheet. This is achieved by exploiting the anisotropic properties of the cubic crystals of silicon-iron. The magnetic properties of these materials can crudely be approximated to a cubic single crystal. This model is widely used for representing the anisotropic magnetization characteristics of the materials. Anisotropic magnetization characteristics of two commercially produced grain-oriented steels have been determined in 10° steps, between 0° and 90° to the rolling direction, and their comparison shows that for accurate representation of the materials a large number of BH curves is required instead of the ones usually considered at 0, 55 and 90° to the rolling direction