Effect of antimony on magnetic properties in non-oriented 2.4 wt% Si electrical sheets

Magnetic properties, microstructure and intercrystalline segregation of antimony were examined on 2.4 wt.% Si steels containing 0.005 to 0.047 wt.% Sb. The measured reduction of the total core losses in steels containing 0.040 and 0.047 wt.% Sb has various values for chosen variants of pre-annealing at 500/spl deg/C and 800/spl deg/C. The reduction of losses relates to selective segregation of antimony on grain boundaries during recrystallization.