Lamination steel technology for appliance industry

In response to the appliance industry´s growing need for high-quality lamination steels for energy-efficient motors, intensive research efforts are being made to develop low-loss high-permeability products with appropriate selection of composition and processing. This has led to the development of new decarburized semiprocessed lamination steels with lower losses (~33% improved) and AC peak relative permeability close to 2000 at 1.5 T and 60 Hz. The magnetic properties of some of these steels are equivalent to or better than those of high-silicon steels. These efforts are described with emphasis on (a) requirements for achieving improved magnetic properties, (b) benefits of new steels over standard products, (c) annealing response of new products, and (d) current research activities aimed at providing future products with excellent magnetic characteristics