High Silicon Soft Magnetic Alloys with High Strength and High Ductility and Method to Process

Iron silicon alloys are extensively used as soft magnetic materials in electrical appliances and devices and especially for motors and transformers because of their excellent magnetic properties and relatively low cost. The main factors influencing magnetic properties are silicon concentration, strip thickness, grain size, impurities level, and crystallographic texture.  The most commonly used electrical steels contain up to 3.2 wt. percent Si. They are typically processed to a thin sheet (typically 0.1-0.5 mm thick) for use as laminates in magnetic motors and transformers and stamped/laser machined. Although Fe-Si alloys with Si levels greater than 3.0 wt. percent have better magnetic properties, these are not as widely used because they are extremely brittle and cannot be rolled to the thickness required using traditional techniques. New alloys along with a process to produce 0.1-0.3 mm thick sheet have been developed as part of this invention.

Contact

To learn more about this technology, email partnerships@ornl.gov or call 865-574-1051.