Reducing the Core Losses of Fe-Si-B Amorphous Alloy Ribbons by High Cooling Rate Planar Flow Casting

In the planar flow casting (PFC) process, the cooling rate significantly affects the structure and properties of a cast ribbon. The influence of the thermal conductivity of the cooling wheel substrate on cooling rate was simulated by a numerical method, and it is shown that a higher thermal conductivity of the cooling wheel substrate leads to a higher cooling rate in the PFC process. Two copper-beryllium (Cu-2Be) rings with thermal conductivities of 175.3 W/m·K and 206.5 W/m·K were manufactured and installed onto a wheel core as the substrate of the cooling wheel. The effects of cooling rate on the soft magnetic properties of Fe-Si-B amorphous ribbons were investigated by pragmatic ribbon casting. The results show that the increment in the thermal conductivity of the cooling wheel substrate from 175.3 W/m·K to 206.5 W/m·K lowered the coercive force of amorphous ribbon from 2.48 A/m to 1.92 A/m and reduced the core losses at 1.4 T and 50 Hz by up to 22.1%.