Ι What Is Electrical Steel?
In 1900, Robert Hadfield discovered that silicon increased the magnetic permeability of iron, leading to the development of electrical steel. Electrical pure iron can only operate in DC magnetic fields due to high eddy current losses in AC fields. To overcome this, silicon is added to form a solid solution, increasing resistivity and reducing losses. This soft magnetic alloy, known as silicon steel, electrical steel, or lamination steel, typically contains 0.5-6.5% silicon but usually has up to 3.2% to avoid brittleness during cold rolling. Additionally, carbon and impurities are minimized.
Tailored for specific magnetic properties, it offers low hysteresis loss, low core loss, and high permeability. Electrical steel is usually supplied in sheet form for lamination, where sheets are cut, stacked, and insulated from each other. It is commonly used in the cores of electromagnetic devices such as electric motors, generators, power transformers, and distribution transformers.
