Abstract: Achieving a sharp Goss texture remains a major challenge in the development of high-grade grain-oriented electrical steels (GOESs). Here, we show that increasing Sn addition from 0.04 to 0.08 wt% effectively sharpens the Goss texture during secondary recrystallization. Transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography reveal that higher Sn addition promotes smaller AlN-MnS composite inhibitor formation, and enhances Sn segregation at inhibitor/ferrite interfaces and grain boundaries. Such Sn segregation reduces inhibitor/matrix interfacial energy, facilitating smaller inhibitor nucleation and increasing their thermal stability. Consequently, Zener pinning is sustained to higher temperatures, delaying inhibitor coarsening and dissolution, elevating the onset of secondary recrystallization temperature, and amazingly leading to a sharper Goss texture. These findings provide mechanistic insights into texture control and suggest a pathway for engineering Goss texture sharpness in next-generation high-grade GOESs.

Key words: Grain-oriented electrical steels, Inhibitors, Sn segregation, Goss texture sharpness, Secondary recrystallization, Atom probe tomography