New Prospects For Fabrication Of Fe-6.5Si Soft Magnetic Components Using Powder Metallurgy

Excellent soft magnetic properties of Fe-6.5Si are well known since a very long time. But its usage was hindered by the difficulty of processing by conventional methods. Until now, most innovative fabrication methods are limited to the lab scale. In this study, different powder metallurgical methods are demonstrated for the fabrication of soft magnetic Fe-6.5Si parts. The magnetic properties as well as geometric limitations of the process will be compared for a sinter-based method (screen printing) with an electron beam powder bed-based process (E-PBF) and a more conventional pressing process (FAST/SPS) for manufacturing soft magnetic components from Fe-6.5Si. The magnetic properties will be correlated with the structural properties. Most important aspects like different powder properties as well as fabrication constraints and conditions will be discussed.