This thought piece examines soft magnetic composites (SMC) and their applications in electrical machines, actuators and transformers.
Efficient and sustainable electric propulsion and its sophisticated power electronic components are dependent on magnetic materials. Traditionally, the most common method for manufacturing electrical machines is to laminate the magnetic cores to overcome the losses due to Faraday’s magnetic induction.
Although it is not possible to highlight a unique SMC material giving the best mechanical strength and magnetic properties in parallel, the isotropic nature of SMC offers various three-dimensional (3D) magnetic design solutions and the advantages of the SMC over conventional laminated steels can be summarized as follows:
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Simplified manufacturing process due to reduced number of parts to be assembled in electrical machines
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Applicable to higher frequency applications and demands lower losses
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Due to coated iron powder particles, the electrical resistivity is high that help prevents the formation of eddy currents in alternating field applications.
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Extremely low remanence
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Realization of novel 3D designs such as axial and transverse flux machines, claw pole designs, high performance inductor cores etc., due to unique 3D flux properties
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Easy to recycle
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Improved and more isotropic thermal conductivity in comparison to laminated machines.
Author: Dr Mehmet C. Kulan, Newcastle University.
Read the full paper on IEEE. Authors: Mehmet C. Kulan, Nick J. Baker, Konstantinos A. Liogas, Oliver Davis, John Taylor, Alexander M. Korsunsky.