Texture, Microstructure and Properties of Electrical Steels

Dear Colleagues,

Electrical steels, also known as silicon steels or lamination steels, are indispensable soft magnetic materials widely used in transformers, motors, generators, etc., to confine and amplify the magnetic field and increase the energy efficiency of these devices. Electrical steels may contain up to 6.5 wt% of silicon, and are usually manufactured as very thin sheets in order to reduce eddy current loss. Although in the past decades, alternative soft magnetic materials, e.g., amorphous steel, nanomaterials, and soft magnetic composites, have been developed and commercialized, electrical steels are still the backbone of most electrical applications, because of their low cost, high permeability, relatively high energy efficiency, and excellent mechanical properties. The increasing awareness of climate change and the mitigating strategies, e.g., electrification, taken by governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions provide a huge opportunity for electrical steels, as the generation, transmission/distribution, and final use of electricity all need electrical steels. The accelerated adoption of electric vehicles in the transportation sector has further increased the demand on electrical steels.

The magnetic properties of electrical steel, especially core loss and magnetic permeability, are not only dependent on the amount of silicon in the alloy and the purity of the steel, but they are also closely related to the texture and microstructure of the steel after thermomechanical processing. Improving the magnetic properties through texture and microstructure control during electrical steel manufacturing has been the subject of much research, and it will continue to be the focus in the future. This Special Issue assembles recent research works on the texture, microstructure, and processing of electrical steels and their effects on the final magnetic properties. Reviews, new processing technologies to manufacture electrical steels, and new methods to characterize the texture, microstructure, and magnetic properties are also welcomed.

Dr. Youliang He
Guest Editor

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