2 - Additive manufacturing of commercial Fe-based metallic glasses for soft magnetic applications

Abstract

Losses in electric motors only in the EU amount to approximately 30% of all the energy consumed in Spain. This problem is expected to increase as the number of electricity powered engines will see an enormous increase in the coming years. Thus, technological breakthroughs are required to boost efficiency. Losses can have multiple origins, including the less than ideal soft magnetic behavior of the materials, mostly silicon steel, that constitutes rotors and other engine parts. Fe-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have shown unprecedented coercivity and magnetization saturation values and are thus envisioned as potential candidates to increase the efficiency of electromagnetic components [1]. So far, their commercialization as bulk components has been prevented by the lack of processing methods that can shape them into parts for real applications. Laser powder bed fusion (LBPF) allows to manufacture BMG parts with complex geometry while retaining an amorphous microstructure due to high local cooling rates. However, in practice, the thermal cycles generated in the layer-wise LBPF process tend to cause undesired crystallization. Currently, finding optimum LPBF processing conditions that yield, simultaneously, high densities and high fractions of the amorphous phase which, in turn, give rise to the required mechanical and magnetic performance, remains a challenge. This talk will describe recent work by the authors related to establishing meaningful relationships between the LPBF processing parameters, the (micro)structure, and the magnetic properties of commercial Fe-based BMGs. The feedstock amorphous powder is processed using a Renishaw AM400 system with a pulsed-wave laser and then complementary experimental techniques such as X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, image analysis, magnetic and micromechanical testing are used to characterize the (micro)structural and multi-scale properties evolution with respect to the processing parameters. Guidelines for the successful additive manufacturing of Fe-based BMGs by pulsed laser powder bed fusion are discussed. [1] L. Thorsson, M. Unosson, M. T. Pérez-Prado, X. Jin, P. Tiberto, G. Barrera, B. Adam, N. Neuber, A. Ghavimi, M. Frey, R. Busch, I. Gallino, “Selective laser melting of a Fe-Si-Cr-B-C-based complex-shaped amorphous soft-magnetic electric motor rotor with record dimensions” Materials & Design, vol. 215, 202

Speaker

Maria Teresa Perez-Prado

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Imdea Materials Institute, Madrid, Spain

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Conference

2 - Additive manufacturing of commercial Fe-based metallic glasses for soft magnetic applications

Date/Time

21/03/2024

8:30 am -9:00 am

Location

Room 6