Fe based amorphous alloys are competing with silicon steel in power frequency and medium frequency fields. 

Compared with silicon steel, iron-based amorphous alloy has the following advantages and disadvantages.

1. The saturated magnetic flux density BS of iron-based amorphous alloy is lower than that of silicon steel

However, at the same BM, the loss of Fe based amorphous alloy is smaller than that of 0.23mm thick 3% silicon steel. It is generally believed that the reason for low loss is the thin thickness and high resistivity of iron-based amorphous alloy strip. This is only one aspect. The main reason is that the iron-based amorphous alloy is amorphous, the atomic arrangement is random, there is no magnetocrystalline anisotropy caused by atomic directional arrangement, and there is no grain boundary causing local deformation and composition offset. Therefore, the energy barrier hindering domain wall motion and magnetic moment rotation is very small, with unprecedented soft magnetism, so it has high permeability, low coercivity and low loss.

2. The filling coefficient of Fe based amorphous alloy core is 0.84 ~ 0.86

3. Working magnetic flux density of Fe based amorphous alloy core

1.35t ~ 1.40t, 1.6T ~ 1.7t for silicon steel. The weight of iron-based amorphous alloy power frequency transformer is about 130% of that of silicon steel power frequency transformer. However, even if the weight is heavy, the loss of iron-based amorphous alloy for power frequency transformer with the same capacity is 70% ~ 80% lower than that of silicon steel.

4. Considering the loss, the total evaluation price is 89%

5. The ability of Fe based amorphous alloy to resist power waveform distortion is stronger than that of silicon steel

Now, the test of magnetic core material loss of power frequency power transformer is carried out under sine wave voltage with distortion less than 2%. The actual power frequency power grid distortion is 5%. In this case, the loss of iron-based amorphous alloy increases to 106% and that of silicon steel increases to 123%. If the high-order harmonic is large and the distortion is 75% (such as power frequency rectifier transformer), the loss of iron-based amorphous alloy increases to 160% and the loss of silicon steel increases to more than 300%. It shows that Fe based amorphous alloy has better resistance to power waveform distortion than silicon steel.

6. The magnetostrictive coefficient of Fe based amorphous alloy is large

It is 3 ~ 5 times that of silicon steel. Therefore, the noise of iron-based amorphous alloy power frequency transformer is 120% of that of silicon steel power frequency transformer, which is 3 ~ 5dB larger.

7. The price of Fe based amorphous alloy strip is 150% of that of 0.23mm3% oriented silicon steel

In the current market, it is about 40% of 0.15mm3% oriented silicon steel (after special treatment).

8. The annealing temperature of Fe based amorphous alloy is lower than that of silicon steel

The annealing temperature of iron-based amorphous alloy is lower than that of silicon steel, and the energy consumption is small, and the iron-based amorphous alloy magnetic core is generally manufactured by special manufacturers. Silicon steel magnetic cores are generally manufactured by transformer manufacturers. According to the above comparison, as long as it reaches a certain production scale, iron-based amorphous alloy will replace some silicon steel markets in electronic transformers within the power frequency range. In the medium frequency range of 400Hz to 10kHz, even if new silicon steel varieties appear, iron-based amorphous alloy will still replace most silicon steel markets with a thickness of less than 0.15mm. It is worth noting that Japan is vigorously developing FEMB amorphous alloy and nanocrystalline alloy. Its BS can reach 1.7 ~ 1.8T, and the loss is less than 50% of the existing FeSiB Amorphous Alloy. If it is used in power frequency electronic transformer, the working magnetic flux density can reach more than 1.5T, while the loss is only 10% ~ 15% of silicon steel power frequency transformer, it will be a more powerful competitor of silicon steel power frequency transformer. Japan is expected to successfully trial produce FEMB amorphous alloy power frequency transformer and put it into production in 2005.

Amorphous nanocrystalline alloys are competing with soft ferrite in the field of medium and high frequency. In 10kHz to 50KHz electronic transformer, the working magnetic flux density of iron-based nanocrystalline alloy can reach 0.5T and the loss P0.05 5 / 20K ≤ 25W / kg, so it has obvious advantages in high-power electronic transformer. In 50 kHz to 100 kHz electronic transformer, the loss of iron-based nanocrystalline alloy is P0.05 2 / 100k is 30 ~ 75W / kg, Fe based amorphous alloy P0.05 2 / 100k is 30W / kg, which can replace some ferrite markets.