Secondary recrystallization of Goss texture in one-stage cold rolled Fe–Ga thin sheets via a large rolling reduction

Preparing Fe–Ga sheets with excellent magnetostrictive coefficients by rolling and annealing methods can greatly promote the development of high-efficiency magnetostrictive devices. 0.3 mm thick Fe–Ga thin sheet was produced by the one-stage large-reduction cold rolling method without intermediate annealing. Trace V and Nb elements addition improves the rolling formability of the Fe–Ga sheet by precipitating a large number of (Nb,V)C particles. The evolution of precipitation, microstructure, texture, and magnetostrictive coefficients in the Fe–Ga sheet was investigated. The microstructure of primary recrystallization is composed of homogenous distribution of fine grains with an average grain size of about 22 μm. The composite inhibitors composed of MnS and (Nb,V)C precipitates with a particle size of 40∼80 nm suppress the matrix grains effectively. The primary recrystallization texture consists of a strong γ texture with a peak at {111}<112> and a relatively strong {114}<481> texture. The secondary recrystallization of Goss grain occurs at the annealing temperature of 900 °C and is completed at 1100 °C by the combined effects of the existing inhibitor and texture. The Fe–Ga thin sheets composed of several millimeter-sized grains of Goss texture accompanied by small grains oriented by {114}<481> were obtained after annealing at 1100 °C, and its measured magnetostriction value is about 238 ppm. The present work proposes a promising routine to produce high-performance Fe–Ga thin sheets.