Commercial scale production of Fe-6.5 wt. % Si sheet and its magnetic properties

Commercial scale production of a Fe-6.5 wt. % Si sheet has been successfully developed. Presently manufactured sheets are in coil form, whose thickness ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 mm with a maximum width of 400 mm. Magnetic properties of the manufactured sheet have been investigated. The permeability of Fe-6.5 wt. % Si sheet is about 10 times higher than the conventional nonoriented silicon steel sheet. The core losses are less than half the conventional, and even less than that of the grain-oriented silicon steel sheet at frequencies over 400 Hz. Superior soft magnetic properties are attributed to the low magnetostriction and high electric resistivity of this alloy. It is well known that the Fe-6.5 wt. % Si alloy has poor ductility in conventional mechanical work. But investigation of the forming conditions has enabled the stamping and bending of alloy sheets. Low core losses and high permeability make Fe-6.5 wt. % Si sheet adequate for motor cores, transformer cores operating at high frequencies, and magnetic shielding. Application to the micromotor core shows that Fe-6.5 wt. % Si sheet reduces the consumption of no-load electric current by 25% in comparison with the conventional silicon steel.