Losses in Electrical Steels

in AC Applications

Electrical steels are used to transform electrical energy in motors and many other
electrical devices. The energy transfer performance of these materials is important to the
performance of the products. In addition, as energy costs increase the efficiency of these
materials will have a greater urgency. This application note describes the sources of loss
in electrical steels, how they can be measured, and steps that can be taken to minimize
them.

Sources of Loss

There are two main sources of loss in electrical steel. There is hysteresis loss due to the
magnetic hysteresis of the material. And there are eddy current losses, due to the eddy
currents induced due to the large changes in magnetic induction.

Theoretical derivations indicate that the hysteresis loss should increase linearly with an
increase in excitation frequency, while the eddy current loss should increase as the
square of the frequency. This can be expressed by the following equation:
2
ef hf Loss ! "

where is the coefficient of the hysteresis loss, e is the coefficient of the eddy current
loss, and is the excitation frequency. This equation suggests a method to easily
separate the hysteresis and eddy current contributions to the loss, by dividing both sides
of the equation by the frequency.
h
f
ef h
f
Loss
! "

A plot of the core loss divided by the frequency, or loss per cycle, plotted as a function of
frequency, should yield a straight line if this functional form is correct. The y-intercept of
this line is the hysteresis loss coefficient, while the slope of the line is the eddy current
loss coefficient. Following is an example of a plot of loss per cycle as a function of
frequency on two electrical steels measured in a Epstein frame.

1
Loss/cycle

Frequency

There are a couple things to notice from this plot. First, and perhaps most crucial, the
actual loss behavior of this material does not obey the theoretical equation. However,
the diagram does provide useful information about the materials. One of the electrical
steels plotted above is grain oriented, which greatly reduces the hysteresis losses, while
the other steel is not. It is apparent from the two curves that the lower curve is the
grain-oriented steel. In addition to this, the lower curve also has a gentler slope than the
upper curve. This is due to the fact that the grain oriented steel of the lower curves
consisted of thinner laminations than the upper curve. The thinner laminations produce
less eddy current losses, but have no real effect on hysteresis losses.

Why does the equation not completely describe the loss mechanisms? For one reason,
losses due to an effect called magneto-striction have not been explicitly induced.
Magneto-striction is an effect where the Youngs modulus of a material changes with
applied magnetic field. As an alternating magnetic field is applied to electrical steels, the
changing Youngs modulus causes the lamination stack to vibrate at the excitation
frequency, resulting in transformer hum. Transformer hum, which is a conversion of
magnetic energy to mechanical energy, is a form of loss. In other cases, the additional
source of loss is lumped into a catchall anomalous loss that is not completely defined.

A Quick Way to Separate Hysteresis Loss from Other Forms of Loss

One can quickly separate hysteresis loss from other sources of loss at a given frequency
by simply running a DC hysteresis curve at the same field amplitude as an AC curve on a
hysteresisgraph. The area inside the AC BH-curve represents all of the loss in the
material. A DC curve generated using the same magnetic field amplitude as used to
attain the induction level for the AC curve will represent to a good approximation the
hysteresis loss. A simple curve subtraction will result in determining the sources of loss in
the material due to effects other than hysteresis losses, which is often dominated by
eddy current losses. A more comprehensive investigation into loss mechanisms is likely
to become a material specific research project.

What to Do about Hysteresis Loss?

Hysteresis loss is directly observed in a broadening in the DC hysteresis curve of the
material. Therefore, carbon impurities and material stress can be large contributors to
the hysteresis loss.

Most steel used for laminations has a low carbon content, and often has 1-3% silicon by
weight added to improve the material permeability. Low carbon and a few percent silicon
will greatly improve the hysteresis contribution to the loss.

Stresses created in the material due to cold working or stamping will create additional
hysteresis losses in the material. The additional hysteresis loss due to working of the
steel in often removed through an annealing process. Interestingly enough, quality
assurance of the annealing processes for electrical steel usually involves a core loss
measurement at 60 Hz. While the annealing process due to the reduction of eddy current
losses will reduce the core loss at this frequency, a more direct measure of an annealing
process is determined from a DC hysteresis curve of the material.

2
3
Walker LDJ Scientific performed a study for Piece-Maker in Troy, Michigan - a lamination
stamping and machining facility - to investigate the effects of a full magnetic anneal on a
stack of E-I laminations. The results indicated the core loss at 60 Hz was reduced by
50% after the annealing process was performed. Results of an annealing process can
greatly vary by the process history of the material, the underlying material composition,
and other factors.

What to Do About Eddy Current Loss?

Eddy current loss can be minimized in a number of ways. First, the addition of silicon to
the iron will increase the resisitivity of the steel, which reduces the magnitude of the
eddy currents, and thus, the eddy current loss. Another common technique to reduce the
eddy current loss is to use thinner laminations. To a good approximation, the eddy
current losses are proportional to the square of the lamination thickness. Therefore,
significant gains in efficiency can be obtained with very thin laminations. Of course,
thinner laminations result in increased product costs.

New materials attempting to exploit this effect are polymer-bonded composite materials.
These materials consist of small grains of iron bonded together by polymers or resins.
Because the thickness of the gains is very small, the eddy current losses in these
materials are quite small. However, there is considerable working of the grains in
pressing these materials into a desired shape, and the hysteresis losses in these
materials are large. To date, the large hysteresis losses have prohibited these materials
from usage at 60 Hz and comparable frequencies. However, these materials because
more efficient at a frequencies approaching a few hundred hertz due to minimal eddy
current losses.