Effect of processing parameters on the magnetic properties and microstructures of molybdenum permalloy compacts made by powder metallurgy

• Effect of processing parameters on the properties of MP powder cores was studied.
• Effective magnetic permeability was enhanced from 45 to 160 after annealing.
• A core loss of 780 mw/cm3 (100 kHz, 100 mT) was obtained.

Effects of compaction and annealing process on the magnetic properties and microstructures of molybdenum permalloy (MP) powder cores have been investigated. MP compacts, with density as high as 92% of the theoretical value, were obtained under 1800 MPa compaction pressure. The MP powder cores show an enhanced effective magnetic permeability of 160 after post-annealing at 690 °C, which is attributed to the relief of internal stress rather than the phase transformation evidenced by the XRD analysis. However, higher annealing temperature destroys the insulating layer, resulting in the drop of the electrical resistivity, the effective magnetic permeability as well as the frequency stability. The results show that the samples compacted at 1800 MPa and annealed at 690 °C exhibit excellent magnetic properties, with core loss of 780 mw/cm3 (100 kHz, 100 mT) and effective magnetic permeability of 160 whose frequency stability is up to 1 MHz.