Magnetic properties of Fe-Co alloys produced by powder metallurgy

Powder metallurgical techniques were applied to the production of Fe-50wt%Co alloy which, because of its high magnetization, shows the greatest promise for applications such as magnetic cores and pole pieces. To obtain a sintered Fe-50wt%Co alloy with good magnetic properties, we tried to improve the sintering process by using a mixture of pre-alloyed Fe-rich Fe-Co powder and fine Co powders. The effect of the Fe content of the pre-alloyed Fe-Co powders was investigated over a range of 50 to 90 wt%. The effect of the Co powder particle size at -325 and -400 mesh was also examined. As a result, we obtained a sintered Fe-50wt%Co alloy with a relative density of 95%, using a mixture of pre-alloyed 80wt%Fe-Co powder and -400 mesh Co powder. This sintered Fe-50wt%Co alloy has the following magnetic properties; a magnetization of 2.15 T in a magnetic field of 4 kA/m, and a coercive force of 160 A/m.