A Review on the Effect of Electrical Steel Manufacturing Processes on the Performance of Electric Machines

The manufacturing processing of Electrical Steel Laminations (ESLs) for electric machines comprises cutting, stacking, and housing techniques which can result in plastic deformation and residual stress in the soft magnetic material. These manufacturing processes result in decreasing the magnetic quality and a local increase in both the static and dynamic hysteresis losses near the cut edges and consequently a reduction in the performance of the designed motor. The iron losses resulting from cutting can vary by a factor of two or more depending on geometrical, material, and processing parameters as well as the magnetic field strength. It is advantageous to consider these manufacturing effects in the design stage to reduce the probability of underperforming mass production. In this paper, the manufacturing processes of ESLs and their modelling methods are comprehensively surveyed. The gaps in scientific understanding and the research need for the expansion of accurate modelling of the cutting and joining of ESLs are subsequently discussed.