MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF TEXTURED SILICON-IRON ALLOYS WITH SILICON CONTENTS IN EXCESS OF 3.25 PERCENT

Single-crystal- and polycrystalline-magnetic-property data available for silicon-iron alloys as a function of silicon content suggest that textured silicon-iron alloys with silicon contents in excess of that present in currently available commercial alloys (3.25%) would have improved magnetic properties. Because of processing difficulties, such alloys have not been produced and their properties reported. In this study 3.25%-silicon-iron alloys with a cube-on-edge texture were siliconized to uniform silicon contents of up to approximately 6.5%. For suitably prepared and annealed samples, enhanced magnetic properties were realized. Core loss, coercive force, and magnetostriction were considerably reduced. The increased silicon content also rendered the alloy amenable to improvement in core loss on magnetic annealing, presumably due to the greater tendency to atomic ordering at higher silicon levels. The decreased saturation accompanying higher silicon contents was reflected in increased excitation field necessary to attain inductions of 15 000 and 17 500 G. © 1969 The American Institute of Physics.