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Effect of Si/Al addition on magnetic properties of Fe Co alloy
Motor-driven systems are estimated to use over 40% of all global electricity consumption, giving rise to over 6 Gt of CO2 emissions 1. To reduce the impact, motors should have higher efficiency. Electrical steels, Fe-Si which have low iron losses are commonly used as soft magnetic materials for motors but higher Bs materials have been desired for higher power density motors. It is well known that Fe-Co alloys have the highest Bs among bulk, stable materials. In fact, Permendur, 49Fe-49Co-2V (mass %) is already used in some high-performance motors, since it has a good soft magnetic properties. However, the drawbacks of Permendur are poor workability owing to the existence of a the brittle B2 phase (ordered phase) . In this study, we first conducted neutron diffraction measurements on the Fe-Co alloys with different Co contents to check the existence of the B2 phase in these alloys. And then, the effect of Si/Al addition on magnetic properties of 82Fe-18Co alloy was investigated in order to improve the soft magnetic properties.
Experimental Procedures
Four samples with different Co contents (49Fe-49Co-2V, 73Fe-27Co, 82Fe-18Co, and 95Fe-5Co) were prepared through melting, casting, forging and annealing processes. The neutron diffraction study was conducted with iMATERIA spectrometer at the Materials and Life Sciences Facility at the J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex). For the study of Si/Al addition, 0.2 mm-thick sheets with the addition of Si/Al in the range of 0~1.75 mass% were prepared by melting, casting process, followed by forging, annealing, hot and cold rolling processes. Magnetic properties were measured with a BH-tracer.
Results
The result showed that 49Fe-49Co-2V and 73Fe-27Co alloys contained the B2 phase. On the other hand, 82Fe-18Co and the 95Fe-5Co did not contain B2, which suggests that these two alloys will likely to have good workability. Therefore, we chose 82Fe-18Co alloy for the investigation of Si/Al addition. Fig. 1 shows the soft magnetic properties of 82Fe-18Co with and without Si/Al addition. It was found that the small addition of Si/Al reduced the iron loss while maintaining high Bs.
References:
1 Paul Waide & Conrad U. Brunner et al., IEA Energy Efficiency Series, Working Paper, 2011.
Fig. 1 Effect of Si and Al addition on the soft magnetic properties of Fe-18Co alloy