PROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS FOR ELECTRODEPOSITED NANOCRYSTALLINE Fe-Ni ALLOYS

Iron-Nickel alloys are of great commercial interest as a result of their soft magnetic and thermal expansion properties. A proprietary, high efficiency electrodeposition process has been developed to produce the full range of Fe-Ni alloys (Ni: 0-100%) as fully dense freestanding nanocrystalline material, with average grain sizes in the range of 10-15 nm. The Fe-Ni alloys can be produced in the form of either net shape components or continuous foil (5-250 mu m thickness). In this presentation, the physical properties of the nanocrystalline Fe-Ni alloys will be presented and compared with their conventional counterparts to demonstrate performance improvement obtained through extreme grain refinement. Properties that will be addressed include: hardness, ductility, thermal expansion, ferromagnetism (maximum induction, permeability, coercivity), electrical resistivity and thermal stability. Potential industrial/commercial applications for these nanocrystalline Fe-Ni alloys will be discussed, with particular emphasis on emerging applications in the electronics industry and in magnetic shielding and power generation/transmission.