Eddy Current Loss Reduction in Binder Jet Printed Iron Silicon Cores

Additive manufacturing of soft magnetic iron cores can help realize electric machines with increased power density. However, high eddy current loss in the 3D printed bulk iron core is a big challenge before AM can be used for commercial production of electric machines. This article discusses a method to reduce the specific loss density of 3D printed iron cores using binder jet printing. It is shown that reducing the size of boron particle, used as a sintering aid, results in lower core loss without significant change in magnetization of the sample. Extracted material properties of presented samples are further validated by finite element simulations using a permanent magnet machine. Performance comparison in the entire torque/speed envelop shows eddy current loss reduction and efficiency improvement in the flux weakening region.