Magnetic properties and loss separation in iron powder soft magnetic composite materials

New developments in powder metallurgical composites make soft magnetic composite (SMC) material interesting for application in electrical machines, when combined with new machine design rules and new production techniques. In order to establish these design rules, one must pay attention to electromagnetic loss characteristics of SMC material. In this work, five different series of iron based SMCs are produced and studied: (1) Pure iron powder with resin; (2) sintered iron based powders; (3) pure iron powder with additions of Zn-st and carbon; (4) iron based powder alloys (Fe,Nb,Si); (5) commercially available iron powder "Somaloy." The specimens were shaped as rectangular rods and characterized on a miniature single sheet tester which was calibrated to Epstein. The measured energy losses are analyzed following the loss separation theory of Bertotti, in which the total energy loss is decomposed into hysteresis loss, classical Foucault loss, and an excess loss component. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.