Abstract
Silicon steel is an industrially-desired alloy of iron and silicon, characterised by soft magnetic properties, low eddy-current losses, and low magnetostriction. Silicon steels have narrow hysteresis cycles, making them particularly advantageous in applications using electromagnetic fields, such as transformers, generators, electric motor cores, and few other components in industry. Despite its incontestable industrial value, there is not much agreement on the atomic structure of silicon steel. Gaining better understanding of e.g. ordering processes in Fe-Si alloys could not only explain their magnetic properties, but also open opportunities to reduce their weaker characteristics, such as brittleness that adversely affects silicon steel workability and its associated high production costs. This review summarises the state-of-the-art knowledge about ordering in silicon steel and describes the most relevant experimental techniques used for studying its microstructure. In addition, the process of building the iron rich part of the Fe-Si phase diagram is explained. Lastly, the influence of order on the alloy’s magnetic and mechanical properties is illustrated.
Highlights
In the field of soft magnetic materials the 19th century was a period of major breakthroughs including the first studies of Fe-Ni alloys and research on magnetization and hysteresis for different steels and geometries
For Si-contents between 13 to 25 at. % (6.4 to 11.6 mass %), upon increasing the Si-content, the phase overcomes the transition a – a2 – a1 at the temperatures calculated with the BWG model and adjusted to experimental results from, for example, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) or neutron diffraction techniques[46,47,48]
When a crystalline material is irradiated by an electromagnetic beam, if the lattice separation is comparable with the wavelength of the probe radiation, the latter diffracts to the spacing, packing and orientation of the lattice
Summary
The first artificial introduction of silicon into iron dates from the beginning of the 19th century when the two elements were first melted together[1]. In the field of soft magnetic materials the 19th century was a period of major breakthroughs including the first studies of Fe-Ni alloys and research on magnetization and hysteresis for different steels and geometries. A rEVIEw Of OrDErING PhENOMENa IN IrON-SIlICON allOYS rEVISIóN DE fENóMENOS DE OrDEN EN alEaCIONES hIErrO-SIlICIO iron that could be forged at those times[3] Soon thereafter, techniques such as electrolytic deposition and melting in vacuo allowed for improving the magnetic properties of pure iron[4]. Later developments using combination of melting iron in vacuo and alloying it with silicon dramatically improved the permeability and magnetic properties of silicon steel[5 and 6]. While metastable conditions and short-range order have been proposed to explain this phenomenon[27], more studies are required to define properly the cause of embrittlement
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