Abstract
In order to understand the mechanism of abnormal grain growth in melt-quenched Fe-6.6%Si ribbons the recrystallization process during high temperature annealing has been investigated. Abnormal grain growth occurs at temperatures between 1 273 and 1 473 K in vacuum, dry hydrogen or dry argon atmosphere. The preferred orientation of the abnormal grain growth depends on annealing temperature and atmosphere sensitively. In the vacuum of total pressure from 6×10-3 to 10 Pa, highly oriented {111}(uuw)and {100}(0vw) textures form under the conditions of higher temperature-lower pressure and lower temperature-higher pressure respectively. In the hydrogen and the argon atmospheres with dew point of 228 K, strong {110}(uuw)and {100}(0vw)oriented textures are also observed respectively. Such an abnormal grain growth can be explained in terms of the surface energy differences between the crystallographic planes, and the surface energy itself is also affected by the oxidation.
