Magnetic losses evolution of a semi-processed steel during forced aging treatments

An ultra-low carbon steel (30 ppm after decarburization) containing Al and Si was aged for distinct soaking times at 210 degrees C. The core loss increased continuously until around 24 h. After that, only slight changes were verified. It was found that only the hysteresis loss component changed during the aging treatment. By internal friction test and transmission electron microscopy it was seen that carbon precipitation caused the magnetic aging. By scanning electron microscopy it could be concluded that the increase of aging index was attributed to the high number of carbides larger than 0.1 mu m. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.