AC magnetic properties of the soft magnetic composites based on Supermalloy nanocrystalline powder prepared by mechanical alloying

Highlights: ► Nanocrystalline soft magnetic composites were obtained. ► The cutting frequency of the produced nanocrystalline SMC exceeds 100 kHz. ► A long annealing at low temperature leads to an improvement of the permeability (12%). - Abstract: The preparation and characterization of the nanocrystalline soft magnetic composite core based on Supermalloy powder obtained via mechanical alloying route are presented. The AC magnetic properties of the compacts were determined in frequency range from 100 Hz to 100 kHz for flux densities of 0.05 and 0.1 T. Composite materials were obtained by covering the Supermalloy particles with a polymer binder, then compacted into toroidal shape and finally polymerized. It is found that an increase of the compacting pressure from 600 MPa to 800 MPa leads to an increase of the compacts permeability by more than 8%. Also, reducing the polymer content from 2 wt.% to 0.5 wt.% leads to an increase of the magnetic losses (at 100 kHz and 0.1 T) by 380%. The removal of the stresses induced during compaction has been accomplished by a heat treatment at 170 °C for 120 h. This leads to a significant increase (12%) of the relative initial permeability of the compacts.