Effect of Al content on magnetic properties of Fe-Al Non-oriented electrical steel

The effects of Al content (0.53 ≤ Al ≤ 9.65 wt%) on microstructure, texture, magnetic flux density, permeability, core loss and magnetic domain structure of Fe-Al based electrical steel were measured or observed. Average grain size decreased as Al content increased, but Al contents had no severe effects on texture. Magnetic flux density and permeability tends to decrease as Al content increased. Total core loss Ptot was separated into hysteresis loss Ph, eddy-current loss Pe and anomalous loss Pa. As Al increased, Ph increased, but Pe and Pa decreased, so the optimal grain size increased. To reduce core loss of electrical steel with high resistivity, annealing should be conducted at high temperature and for a long time to increase grain size.