Iron loss research of amorphous alloy motor by considering the influences of solidifying and annealing on stator core

© Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose - The specific iron losses of amorphous alloy material are extremely low compared with silicon steel material. The iron losses of motors may reduce by replacing the silicon steel core with an amorphous alloy core. However, one drawback of amorphous alloy material is that the specific iron losses will increase a lot after the motor manufacturing process. This paper aims to study the influences of interlaminar insulator solidifying and annealing on amorphous alloy material. The iron losses of motors made of amorphous alloy and baseline silicon steel sheets are compared and discussed. Design/methodology/approach - This paper opted for an exploratory study using the experimental analysis and loss separation methods. Two amorphous alloy cores are produced and tested. The iron losses of motors made of amorphous alloy and silicon steel sheets are calculated and compared based on the measured specific iron losses. Three wound amorphous alloy core samples are made and measured. The iron losses are separated and compared by considering the manufacturing influences. Findings - This paper provides empirical insights about what change is brought in amorphous alloy material after manufacturing. The results have shown that, for amorphous alloy cores without the annealing process, the loss increase caused by solidifying is mainly the eddy current loss, while it is mainly the hysteresis loss component for annealed amorphous alloy cores. Originality/value - This paper presents for the first time the measured results of manufactured amorphous alloy cores. This paper fulfils the need to manufacture amorphous alloy motors properly for the producers