Balance solubility products and enthalpy of for- mation for NbC0.75, NbC0.85, NbC0.88, NbC and NbN in oriented silicon steels were calculated and compared quali- tatively. Meanwhile, the mixing enthalpies of these five Nb compounds were calculated based on Miedema Model. The results show that the solubility products of Nb compounds in ferrite and austenite meet the following relationship, NbC0.75 〉 NbC0.85 〉 NbC0.88 〉 NbC 〉 NbN and NbN has the minimum enthalpy of formation. It indicates that NbN easily precipitate out, but it is more difficult for NbC0.75.
Microstructure, precipitate and magnetic characteristic of fmal products with different normalizing cooling processes for Fe-3.2%Si low-temperature hot-rolled grain-oriented silicon steel were analyzed and compared with the hot-rolled plate by optical microscopy （OM）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, and energy dispersive spectrometry （EDS）. The results show that, the surface microstructure is uniform, the proportion of recrystallization in matrix increases, and the banding textures are narrowed; the precipitates, whose quantity in normalized plate is more than that in hot-rolled plate greatly, are mainly A1N, MnS, composite precipitates （Cu,Mn）S and so on. Normalizing technology with a temperature of 1120 ℃, holding for 3 min, and a two-stage cooling is a most advantaged method to obtain oriented silicon steel with sharper Goss texture and higher magnetic properties, owing to the uniform surface microstructures and the obvious inhomogeneity of microstructures along the thickness. The normalizing technology with the two-stage cooling is the optimum process, which can generate more fine precipitates dispersed over the matrix, and be beneficial for finished products to get higher magnetic properties.
