Abstract: Effect of normalizing process on microstructure, texture and magnetic properties of non-oriented silicon steel for electric vehicle drive motors was investigated by taking industrial produced 2.8%Si+1.0%Al hot rolled plates as experimental materials. The results show that the hot rolled deformation microstructure is eliminated and the microstructure uniformity is improved by normalizing. Thereby the cold rolled and annealed microstructure is improved. The grain size of both normalized and annealed plates continues to increase with normalizing temperature increasing. Besides, the hot rolled texture is improved significantly by normalizing. {110} and {100} textures are strengthened, while {111} texture is weakened, with the increase of normalizing temperature. Due to the heritability of normalized texture, the {111} texture intensity in the annealed plate also weakens with the normalizing temperature rising. After normalizing at 900 ℃ for 4 min, cold rolling to a thickness of 0.27 mm and annealing at 1000 ℃ for 2 min, the grain size of the annealed finished plate is 117 μm, which is the optimal grain size. At this time, the magnetic properties of the annealed plate are the best, with the core loss P_1.5/50 of 2.044 W/kg, the core loss P_1.0/400 of 13.368 W/kg, and the magnetic induction intensity B₅₀ of 1.672 T.

Key words: non-oriented silicon steel, new energy vehicle, normalizing temperature, microstructure, texture, magnetic properties