IP Library Granted Patent US 12662724
Granted Patent B2
US 12662724 · App. 18/564,171 · Granted Jun 23, 2026

Method for producing grain-oriented electrical steel sheet

Inventors: Masanori Takenaka (Tokyo, JP); Takeshi Imamura (Tokyo, JP); Takaaki Tanaka (Tokyo, JP); Hiroi Yamaguchi (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
C22C38/02C21D3/04C21D6/008C21D8/1205C21D8/1222C21D8/1233C21D8/1255C21D8/1266C21D8/1272C21D8/1283C21D9/46C22C38/001C22C38/04C22C38/06C22C38/60C21D2201/05
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12662724
App. No.
18/564,171
Granted
Jun 23, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

In the production of a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet by heating a steel slab containing, in mass %, C: 0.02 to 0.10%, Si: 2.5 to 5.5%, Mn: 0.01 to 0.30%, S: 0.0010 to 0.040%, Se: 0 to 0.040%, sol. Al: 0.010 to 0.040%; and N: 0.004 to 0.020% to 1300° C. or higher; subsequently performing hot rolling, hot-band annealing as necessary, cold rolling, and primary recrystallization annealing which also serves as decarburization annealing; applying an annealing separator on the surface of the steel sheet; and performing finishing annealing, edge cracks that may occur in the hot rolling are effectively prevented by keeping a slab lateral face temperature at a time of starting rough rolling during the hot rolling equal to or lower than a temperature T e defined by the following Expression T e =−120000 [% S] 2 +1400 (1) and carrying out width reduction after at least one pass in the rough rolling.

Claims (78)

1 . A method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet comprising

heating a steel slab having an ingredient composition containing C: 0.02 to 0.10 mass %, Si: 2.5 to 5.5 mass %, Mn: 0.01 to 0.30 mass %, S: 0.0010 to 0.040 mass %, Se: 0 to 0.040 mass %, sol. Al: 0.010 to 0.040 mass %, and N: 0.004 to 0.020 mass % with a remaining part comprising Fe and inevitable impurities;

hot rolling the slab;

subjecting the hot-rolled sheet to, optionally, hot-band annealing and then to one cold rolling or two or more cold rollings with an intermediate annealing between each cold rolling to form a cold-rolled sheet with a final sheet thickness;

subjecting the cold-rolled sheet to primary recrystallization annealing which also serves as decarburization annealing;

applying an annealing separator to the steel sheet surface; and

subjecting the sheet to finishing annealing,

characterized in that

the slab is heated to 1300° C. or higher;

a slab lateral face temperature T when starting rough rolling during the hot rolling is equal to or lower than a temperature T e defined by Expression (1) presented below,

T

e

=

-

120000

[

%

S

]

2

+

1400

(

1

)

where [% S] denotes a S content (mass %) in the slab; and

width reduction is carried out after at least one pass in the rough rolling.

2 . The method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet according to claim 1 , wherein

the slab is heated until the slab surface temperature reaches a temperature of 1100 to 1300° C.,

held at the temperature for 0 to 300 min,

cooled with a decrease amount in the slab surface temperature in the range of 50 to 200° C.,

heated until the slab surface temperature to 1300° C. or higher at a heating rate of 100° C./hr or more, and

held at the temperature for 0 to 180 min.

3 . The method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises:

a hot rolling step comprising

heating the steel slab,

performing rough rolling of one or more passes in a temperature range from 1100° C. to T e ,

performing finishing rolling of two or more passes in a temperature range from 800 to 1300° C. to obtain a hot-rolled sheet, and

winding the sheet into a coil at a winding temperature of 400 to 750° C.; optionally, a hot-band annealing step comprising

holding the hot-rolled sheet at a temperature from 800 to 1250° C. for 5 seconds or longer and then cooling the sheet from 800 to 350° C. at a rate of 5 to 100° C./s;

a cold rolling step comprising one cold rolling performed so that a total rolling reduction falls within the range of 50 to 92%, or comprising two or more cold rollings performed so that a total rolling reduction at the final cold rolling for obtaining the final sheet thickness falls within the range of 50 to 92%;

optionally, an intermediate annealing step comprising holding the sheet at a temperature from 800 to 1250° C. for 5 seconds or longer and then cooling the sheet from 800 to 350° C. at a rate of 5 to 100° C./s;

a primary recrystallization annealing step serving as decarburization annealing comprising holding the sheet at a temperature from 750 to 950° C. for 10 seconds or longer under a wet atmosphere containing H 2 and N 2 and having a dew point of 20 to 80° C.;

an annealing separator applying step comprising applying an annealing separator mainly composed of MgO to a surface of the steel sheet in an amount of 3 g/m 2 or more per surface; and

a finishing annealing step that comprises purification by holding the sheet at a temperature of 1050° C. to 1300° C. for 3 hours or longer and that uses an H 2 -containing atmosphere for a part of the temperature range of 800° C. or higher including at least the purification.

4 . The method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet according to claim 1 , wherein

the steel slab contains, in addition to the above ingredient composition, at least one selected from Groups A to C below:

Group A: at least one selected from Ni: 0 to 1.00 mass %, Sb: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Sn: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Cu: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Cr: 0 to 0.50 mass %, P: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Mo: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Nb: 0 to 0.020 mass %, V: 0 to 0.010 mass %, B: 0 to 0.0025 mass %, Bi: 0 to 0.50 mass %, and Zr: 0 to 0.10 mass %:

Group B: at least one selected from Co: 0 to 0.0500 mass % and Pb: 0 to 0.0100 mass %; and

Group C: at least one selected from As: 0 to 0.0200 mass %, Zn: 0 to 0.0200 mass %, W: 0 to 0.0100 mass %, Ge: 0 to 0.0050 mass %, and Ga: 0 to 0.0050 mass %.

5 . The method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet according to claim 2 , wherein the method comprises:

a hot rolling step comprising

heating the steel slab,

performing rough rolling of one or more passes in a temperature range from 1100° C. to T e ,

performing finishing rolling of two or more passes in a temperature range from 800 to 1300° C. to obtain a hot-rolled sheet, and

winding the sheet into a coil at a winding temperature of 400 to 750° C.; optionally, a hot-band annealing step comprising

holding the hot-rolled sheet at a temperature from 800 to 1250° C. for 5 seconds or longer and then cooling the sheet from 800 to 350° C. at a rate of 5 to 100° C./s;

a cold rolling step comprising one cold rolling performed so that a total rolling reduction falls within the range of 50 to 92%, or comprising two or more cold rollings performed so that a total rolling reduction at the final cold rolling for obtaining the final sheet thickness falls within the range of 50 to 92%;

optionally, an intermediate annealing step comprising holding the sheet at a temperature from 800 to 1250° C. for 5 seconds or longer and then cooling the sheet from 800 to 350° C. at a rate of 5 to 100° C./s;

a primary recrystallization annealing step serving as decarburization annealing comprising holding the sheet at a temperature from 750 to 950° C. for 10 seconds or longer under a wet atmosphere containing H 2 and N 2 and having a dew point of 20 to 80° C.;

an annealing separator applying step comprising applying an annealing separator mainly composed of MgO to a surface of the steel sheet in an amount of 3 g/m 2 or more per surface; and

a finishing annealing step that comprises purification by holding the sheet at a temperature of 1050° C. to 1300° C. for 3 hours or longer and that uses an H 2 -containing atmosphere for a part of the temperature range of 800° C. or higher including at least the purification.

6 . The method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet according to claim 2 , wherein

the steel slab contains, in addition to the above ingredient composition, at least one ingredient group selected from Groups A to C below:

Group A: at least one selected from Ni: 0 to 1.00 mass %, Sb: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Sn: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Cu: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Cr: 0 to 0.50 mass %, P: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Mo: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Nb: 0 to 0.020 mass %, V: 0 to 0.010 mass %, B: 0 to 0.0025 mass %, Bi: 0 to 0.50 mass %, and Zr: 0 to 0.10 mass %;

Group B: at least one selected from Co: 0 mass % to 0.0500 mass % and Pb: 0 mass % to 0.0100 mass %; and

Group C: at least one selected from As: 0 mass % to 0.0200 mass %, Zn: 0 mass % to 0.0200 mass %, W: 0 mass % to 0.0100 mass %, Ge: 0 mass % to 0.0050 mass %, and Ga: 0 mass % to 0.0050 mass %.

7 . The method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet according to claim 3 , wherein

the steel slab contains, in addition to the above ingredient composition, at least one ingredient group selected from Groups A to C below:

Group A: at least one selected from Ni: 0 to 1.00 mass %, Sb: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Sn: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Cu: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Cr: 0 to 0.50 mass %, P: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Mo: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Nb: 0 to 0.020 mass %, V: 0 to 0.010 mass %, B: 0 to 0.0025 mass %, Bi: 0 to 0.50 mass %, and Zr: 0 to 0.10 mass %;

Group B: at least one selected from Co: 0 mass % to 0.0500 mass % and Pb: 0 mass % to 0.0100 mass %; and

Group C: at least one selected from As: 0 mass % to 0.0200 mass %, Zn: 0 mass % to 0.0200 mass %, W: 0 mass % to 0.0100 mass %, Ge: 0 mass % to 0.0050 mass %, and Ga: 0 mass % to 0.0050 mass %.

8 . The method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet according to claim 5 , wherein

the steel slab contains, in addition to the above ingredient composition, at least one ingredient group selected from Groups A to C below:

Group A: at least one selected from Ni: 0 to 1.00 mass %, Sb: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Sn: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Cu: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Cr: 0 to 0.50 mass %, P: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Mo: 0 to 0.50 mass %, Nb: 0 to 0.020 mass %, V: 0 to 0.010 mass %, B: 0 to 0.0025 mass %, Bi: 0 to 0.50 mass %, and Zr: 0 to 0.10 mass %;

Group B: at least one selected from Co: 0 mass % to 0.0500 mass % and Pb: 0 mass % to 0.0100 mass %; and

Group C: at least one selected from As: 0 mass % to 0.0200 mass %, Zn: 0 mass % to 0.0200 mass %, W: 0 mass % to 0.0100 mass %, Ge: 0 mass % to 0.0050 mass %, and Ga: 0 mass % to 0.0050 mass %.