Magnetic and Electrical Properties of Nanocrystalline Fe85Si10Ni5/Phenolic Resin Soft Magnetic Composites

In this work, nanocrystalline Fe85Si10Ni5 soft magnetic powders were prepared by mechanical alloying and subsequent annealing to reduce the internal stresses and lattice strains. The powders were mixed with phenolic resin and warm pressed to produce nanostructured soft magnetic composites. The effect of annealing time and temperature on the crystalline structure, microstructure and magnetic properties of the powders and composite samples were investigated by XRD, SEM, VSM and LCR techniques. The results show that the annealing causes a significant improvement in the soft magnetic properties of the powders. By increasing the pressure and temperature in the compaction process, the density and permeability of the bulk samples increased. Moreover, increasing the phenolic resin content from 0.8 to 1.2 wt. % improves the electrical resistivity of the nanostructured soft magnetic composites.