Context

The soft magnetic materials, made from stack of electrical steel sheets separated by an insulating layer, are becoming crucial in almost all industrial sectors, as they are key elements of industrial electrical machines such as transformers, sensors, actuators, motors, and generators.

Standard processes used to refine the magnetic structure of such materials and reduce the iron losses are based on mechanical scratching hard to upscale and continuous lasers without thermal resilience

Outcomes

• Energy and power savings: This process makes it possible to decrease both the iron losses and the reactive power needed due to magnetic reversal mechanisms up to 20% and even more for a large range of working conditions
• Control of vibrations and magnetic noise: decrease of both the magnetic induced vibrations and noise up to 50% (-3 dB).
• Reduction of global cost: Energy saving during the whole life cycle leads to a significant reduction of global cost up to 20%.
• Thermal retention properties: The USPL technique provides thermal retention capabilities not achievable by the standard surface laser treatment in the industry (CW and LPL, see table).
• Tailor made process usable and useful before thermal annealing or/and coating: The laser parameters and patterns can be adjusted for each alloy and grade and adapted to the flux working condition.
• High quality mass production capabilities: The process provides thin, deep and clean grooves and is compatible with mass production thanks to the high repetition frequency of pulses.