Ceramics Project - Tom
Ceramics Project - Tom
Ceramics Project - Tom
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary.............................................................................................................i
Table of Contents................................................................................................................ii
List of Figures.....................................................................................................................ii
List of Tables.....................................................................................................................iii
1 Introduction......................................................................................................................1
1.1 Project Aim................................................................................................................1
1.2 Background of Ceramic Magnets..............................................................................2
1.2.1 Hysteresis Loop...................................................................................................3
1.2.2 General Types and Compositions.......................................................................4
2 Ceramics as Magnetic Cores.............................................................................................5
2.1 Composition and Crystal Structure............................................................................6
2.2 Properties...................................................................................................................7
2.2.1 Magnetic Properties............................................................................................7
2.2.2 Mechanical and Thermal Properties.................................................................10
2.2.3 Effect of Temperature on Properties.................................................................11
2.3 Manufacturing..........................................................................................................13
2.4 Applications.............................................................................................................15
2.5 Limitations...............................................................................................................18
3 Conclusions and Recommendations...............................................................................19
4 References.......................................................................................................................21
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Hysteresis loop for a spinel type ferrite [1]..........................................................3
Figure 2: Examples of some ferrite cores [2].......................................................................6
Figure 3: Part of a spinel ferrite unit cell [4]........................................................................7
Figure 4: Effect of temperature on the magnetization of a magnet...................................12
Figure 5: Saturation inductance with minute changes in composition [6].........................13
Figure 6: Graph of the core loss (hysteresis + eddy currents) vs B for ferrites [9]...........18
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Magnetic properties of ceramic and metal magnets used in magnetic cores [5]...7
Table 2: Mechanical and thermal properties of ceramic magnets [5]................................10
Table 3: Change in the initial permeability of Mn-Zn ferrites over temperature [5].........11
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1 INTRODUCTION
Some metals and ceramics however, display this phenomenon to a much greater extent.
For ceramic magnets, also known as ferrites, this enhanced interaction with a magnetic
field provides the opportunity for practical applications including permanent magnets,
composition and manufacturing process of these ceramics, the magnetic, mechanical and
thermal properties can be designed to meet specific applications and improve the
performance of systems that currently utilize metal magnets. This can lead to new
The primary focus of this report will be the investigation of ceramic magnets used in
transformer and inductor cores. Transformer and inductor cores provide a unique
scenario because both metal and ceramic magnets are used in industry applications.
Specific emphasis will be placed on situations where ceramic magnets are used in place
of their metal alternates. For example, while metal alloys and powdered cores are used
for applications up to about 20 kHz, ferrite cores are preferred in the 100 kHz to 1 MHz
region; this is based upon the ferrites containing more favourable conditions such as
lower core loss and eddy currents in that region. Some of the factors which determine the
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useful applications of each material type are cost, size, energy losses, strength and
magnetic properties.
The crystal structure of the ferrite magnets will be examined in addition to the
magnetic, mechanical and thermal properties for a select few compositions relative to
magnetic cores. These properties are also compared to their metal alternatives. With this
understanding of the materials, their applications in industry will be discussed based upon
limitations of the ferrites will also be described in the report to give perspective of the
Magnetism in ceramic magnets occurs when different types of paramagnetic ions are
present in the crystal structure. This random array of magnetic moments within the
magnetic field forces the ions to align. Application of this field results in the formation
of an inductance in the material. By altering the magnetic field strength from positive to
of the ceramic, can be obtained. Properties of these ceramics are primarily decided by
The prime factor which determines the general application of a ceramic magnet is the
shape of the hysteresis loop that is formed when the inductance of a magnet is plotted
against a varying magnetic field. Magnetic inductance is a measure of the stored energy,
or the concentration of a magnetic field, within the magnet. Figure 1 below demonstrates
In a hysteresis loop there are three important values which effect the possible
coercivity. As seen in Figure 1, after an initial magnetic field has been applied, the
material fully aligns and a saturation inductance is created. This saturation inductance,
Bsat, is a measure of the maximum amount of energy the magnet can store. A material
with a higher Bsat could then be physically smaller than one with a lower Bsat while still
producing the same power for a given field strength. After removal of this field a certain
amount of remnant magnetic inductance, Br, remains in the ceramic. This is due to the
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net overall polarized grains within the crystal structure that did not switch back to their
original magnetic orientation. The coercivity of a ceramic, Hc, identifies the amount of
magnetic strength that must be applied to reduce the magnetization in the ceramic to zero.
with a high Br and high Hc are used as permanent magnets because magnetization remains
high after the field is removed and it is difficult to demagnetize. Ceramics with a large B r
value but a low Hc are useful in transformer applications as cycling entails only a small
magnetic field resulting in low losses. Other applications, such as magnetic memories,
Ceramic magnets are classified in terms of their composition. Three types of ferrites
which exist are spinels, magnetoplumbites (hexagonal) and magnetic garnets (rare earth
garnets). The spinel ferrite obtained its name from its spinel structure and is composed of
an iron (III) oxide (Fe3+2O2-3) and a metal oxide (M2+O2-) where the metal has a valence of
two; this metal can be Fe2+, Mn2+ or Co2+ among others. Hexagonal ferrites, as the name
molecules interlinked with a metal oxide. Possible oxides include BaO, SrO or Y2O3.
Rare earth garnets obtain their magnetization properties from the large magnetic moments
of Gd3+ and Y3+ which form the ceramics Gd3Fe5O12 and Y3Fe5O12, respectively.
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As discussed in Section 1.1, transformer and inductor cores will be the primary report
basis. Therefore the spinel structure which is utilized in these cores will be the ferrites of
Spinel ferrites are the ceramic magnets of choice in magnetic core applications due
largely to the low core losses associated with their use. These magnets are termed to be
opposed to hard magnets which require large magnetic fields to demagnetize. This
property permits faster and less energy intensive cycling from positive to negative
inductance. They also contain large saturation magnetizations which allows for smaller
cores than other types of ceramic magnets. Figure 2 shows some examples of ferrite
cores.
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The crystal structure of magnetic cores is that of the spinel structure, A2+B3+2O2-4,
where an iron (III) oxide is paired with a metal oxide of valence two for the metal. For
transformer and inductor core applications the metal in the metal oxide is either a
In the spinel structure there are eight units per cell. This gives a total of 32 oxygen
ions, 16 iron (III) ions and 8 additional metal ions. Within this unit cell there are 16
octahedral and 8 tetrahedral sites; an octahedral site is surrounded by six oxygen ions
while a tetrahedral site is surrounded by four oxygen ions. Half of the octahedral sites
and all of the tetrahedral sites are occupied by the iron (III) ions. Since the octahedral
sites are oriented antiparallel (opposite magnetic directions) to the tetrahedral sites the net
magnetism from the Fe3+ ions is zero. Thus the net ferrimagnetism from the material is
due purely to the additional metal ions in the octahedral sites. Figure 3 below shows the
position of the octahedral and tetrahedral sites within the spinel unit cell.
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In the case of magnetic core applications, the Zn 2+ ions can be partially substituted into
the Fe3+ octahedral sites increasing the net magnetization by reducing the offset by one
valence. Ni2+ or Mn2+ ions then fill the remaining octahedral sites. The magnetic
moment created by the combinations of Mn-Zn and Ni-Zn with the iron oxide play a
2.2 PROPERTIES
The magnetic, mechanical and thermal properties of the spinel ferrite determine which
industrial applications are available to the ceramic. The strength of the magnetic field,
tensile strength, hardness, core loss and size are some of the determining factors in this
decision.
Ceramic magnets are designed to be cheaper and more efficient than their metallic
alternates. A large requirement of that design is for the ceramics to have magnetic
properties better than or equal to metal magnets. Properties of importance are the
some of the magnetic properties of metal and ceramic magnets used in magnetic cores.
The 99.95% iron material is known as a powdered iron while the Permalloy is a Ni-Fe
combination.
Table 1: Magnetic properties of ceramic and metal magnets used in magnetic cores [5]
Inductance
(Ωcm) Permeability
(T)
99.95% Fe 2.14 10x10-6 5000
Fe-80%Ni
0.8 55x10-6 100000
Permalloy
Mn-Zn Ferrite 0.4-0.5 10-103 750-15000
Ni-Zn Ferrite 0.3-0.4 105-1010 10-1000
The saturation inductance of a ceramic is the maximum amount of inductance, or
magnetization, a ceramic can hold. Larger Bsat values mean that a magnet can be made
smaller while still producing the same amount of magnetization as magnets with a lower
transformer cores are between 0.3T and 0.5T. This difference is due to the large volume
of nonmagnetic oxygen ions present in the lattice structure which lowers the overall
inductance the resistivity of ferrites is large due to the presence of oxygen ions. This
larger resistance to electric current results in much lower core losses from eddy currents
be performed with little loss which is not possible with metal magnets. Entries in Table 1
The permeability of a magnet is the ability to resist the formation of a magnetic field
within the material. This property is used to relate the applied magnetic field to the
B = µH
μ = Permeability
Materials with low relative permeabilities will store energy which is undesirable in
much smaller permeabilities than either powdered iron (99.95% iron) or Permalloy as
seen in Table 1. The reason for such low permeabilities is the effect of grain boundaries,
grain size and porosity within the crystal’s microstructure that prevents movement of the
domain walls. Thus a larger magnetic field is required to move the domain wall. The
domain walls are the transition regions where the magnetic moments within a structure
the wire surrounding a core is exposed to alternating currents which constantly change
the direction of the magnetic field. This changing field results in the formation of eddy
currents which oppose and weaken the inductance within the field according to Lenz’s
law. Thus the amount of energy put into making the original inductance is diminished.
Magnets with higher resistivity resist the formation of eddy currents and are therefore
more efficient at converting the applied current into magnetization of the core. As seen
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in the previous paragraphs metals have a very low resistance while ceramics are very
high. Other types of core loss exist in hysteresis. As seen in Figure 1 the energy put into
a material is less than the energy recovered when the magnetization is reversed. This
difference is energy lost to hysteresis. The impact of these core losses will be discussed
Although the magnetic properties of a ceramic are imperative to their eventual use, a
ceramic magnet must be strong enough to handle the everyday wear and tear that is
associated with its application. They also must be able to operate under varying
compliance (E) and thermal conductivity (k) are some of the more crucial parameters of
the ceramic magnets. The ranges of these properties for the ceramic magnets are
summarized in Table 2.
compressive strengths are high. The compliance, or Young’s modulus, of the ceramics is
also quite small relative to metals. Based upon these lower values the ceramic magnet
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would not be well suited for transformer applications where vibration or shock of the unit
occurs, such as military applications. The low thermal conductivities are also concerning
From Table 2 it can be seen that the overall sturdiness of a ferrite core is low
compared to their metal counterparts. This indicates that application of the core is not
only dependent upon the required magnetic properties but the environment in which the
core is used.
the thermal vibration associated with changes in temperature. Thermal vibration can alter
both the permeability of a ferrite and cause complete disorder above a certain
In Mn-Zn ferrites the permeability can more than double over a 250°C span in a non-
linear fashion. Table 3 shows how the permeabilities of several combinations of Mn-Zn
can change over temperature from their initial values. The different initial permeabilities
can be created through varying the amounts of manganese and zinc within the ceramic.
Table 3: Change in the initial permeability of Mn-Zn ferrites over temperature [5]
Initial μ at
μ at -50°C μ at 50°C μ at 150°C μ at 200°C
25°C
700 800 850 850 900
800 1200 1150 1500 2000
1500 2000 2100 3200 N/A
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down due to thermal vibration. This temperature is called the Curie temperature. Above
this temperature the thermal energy overcomes the magnetic energy resulting in complete
disorder of the internal moments and an overall decrease in magnetization of the ceramic.
Below this temperature the structure remains partially magnetized but the inductance is
reduced the closer the temperature is to the Curie temperature. At 0K the magnetization
would be at a maximum. The below figure expresses the effect of the Curie temperature.
In powdered iron the Curie temperature is 770°C while ferrites based on Fe, Mn, Co,
and Ni ions are 585°C, 300°C, 747°C and 585°C respectively. The shows that, in
general, metals will retain their inductance better than ceramics during higher
temperature applications.
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2.3 MANUFACTURING
Properties of ceramics such as the permeability and saturation inductance can be vastly
improved by controlling the composition, grain size, resistivity and internal grain losses
in the manufacturing process. Even minor percentage differences in the composition will
Thus the efficiency of the ceramic can be vastly increased if the manufacturing process is
perfected.
technique. This begins with mixing of the raw powders for the desired composition (i.e.
MnCO3, ZnO and Fe2O3 powders among other minute molecules). These powders should
be inspected for purity but some sacrifice must be made for cost. Several impurities
could result in accelerated grain growth or other adverse effects in sintering. Mixing of
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the powders can be completed using several methods including turbine milling and dry
mixing.
Next the blend undergoes calcination. In this process the spinel structure is formed
and the overall volume change of the final core is predicted and controlled. Calcining
occurs at approximately 1000°C in a kiln producing a coarse powder which is then milled
using steel balls in preparation for pressing. Afterward the composition is analyzed and
extra powders are added if the mix is incorrect. Alternatively, a finished core can have
the required oxides added to it but this takes additional time. The powder is then spray
dried, added to water and placed in an oven to obtain the desired particle size.
The final forming stage is dry pressing of the powders. In dry pressing upper and
lower dies exert over 10 tons/in2 of pressure onto the powder mix forming the final
product into a simple geometric shape. Other techniques for forming the final shape
include grinding and extrusion. Evenly distributed pressing is required to ensure the
After the final shape of the ceramic is obtained it gains its final properties and
dimensions in the sintering stage. Properties dependent upon the sintering stage include
the core density, saturation inductance, microstructure, permeability and core loss.
Sintering depends upon time, temperature and the environment around the object. For
ceramic magnets the process can last anywhere from 1 to 14 days depending on the
magnet size. The temperature throughout the process will vary primarily from 1100°C to
1400°C while the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere varies from 0% to 21%. Once
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sintering is complete the product should be ready for application in transformers and
inductors.
2.4 APPLICATIONS
permanent magnets. Spinel ferrites however, are useful as transformer and inductor
cores. The primary purpose of a magnetic core is to magnetically link two or more
circuits by effectively transmitting magnetic flux through itself to another, adjacent core.
Magnetic fields required to activate this flux are generated by current in a wire coiled
around the magnet. The magnitude of this field is a combination of the current in the
wire and the number of turns of wire around the core. Since alternating current (AC) is
used in the circuit, the inductance generated within the core will be alternating by the
same frequency as the current. Ferrites can then operate for a range of applications with
their effectiveness, compared to metal magnets, largely dependent upon the frequency of
the current. Further development of ferrites is encouraged due to the lower production
and Permalloy are preferred to ferrites. This is because metal magnets have similar core
losses to ferrites while maintaining superior saturation inductances (0.8T to 0.4T), which
allows them to be much smaller than ferrites. At low frequencies eddy currents, which
result in core loss, are not as much of a factor as the current alternates at a much slower
rate. Thus the advantage gained by having a higher resistivity is minimal for ferrites in
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low frequency applications. Ferrites also contain larger hysteresis losses than metals
which make them less preferable when eddy currents are not a factor. In addition, ferrites
transformer applications. This energy storage is due to the low permeabilities associated
with ferrites. In summary, due to similar core losses, metal magnets are superior to
inductances.
Higher frequency applications ranging from 100 kHz to 100 MHz favour the use of
ferrites to metal magnets. At higher frequencies eddy currents are much more
pronounced and are the primary factor in deciding which material is used for the
application. Core losses in metal magnets are severe and reduce the efficiency of the core
to a fraction of the value seen when operating at low frequencies. Alternatively, ferrites
experience much lower efficiency losses due to their higher resistivities. With a
resistivity of between 10 Ωcm and 1000 Ωcm, Mn-Zn ferrites are used in applications up
to 1 or 2 MHz. Ni-Zn ferrites have a much higher resistivity between 10 kΩcm and 10
GΩcm allowing for eddy current losses to be low enough for applications up to several
hundred MHz.
Intermediate frequency applications in the 20 kHz to 100 kHz range use both metal
and ceramic magnets. Though the core losses in the metals are higher, the better
permeabilities and saturation inductances seen in metals make up for the shortcomings in
some cases. Therefore the choice between metal or ceramic cores in these regions must
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take into consideration the size requirements, environment and strength to a much greater
extent than in low or high frequency situations where losses are prevalent. Figure 6
shows the total core loss as a function of the generated inductance for different
frequencies.
Applications involving heating situations, high shock or vibration are better performed
by metal magnets than ceramics. The low thermal conductivity of a ceramic is unable to
remove heat generated by the transformer in some conditions causing the temperature to
potentially run away. Although heating of the core increases the permeability it will
decrease the magnetization as the Curie temperature is approached. Damage may also
occur to the surrounding wires. Military or large motion applications are also not meant
for ceramic magnets as they have low tensile strengths and compliance which could result
Figure 6: Graph of the core loss (hysteresis + eddy currents) vs B for ferrites [9]
2.5 LIMITATIONS
The limitations of ferrites are a result of several of its properties compared to metals.
Tensile strength, thermal conductivity and lower saturation inductances all reduce the
number of applications available to the material. High shock or vibration situations may
cause the material to break while the low thermal conductivities would prevent the
ceramic from expelling heat, damaging its performance and surroundings. Lower
saturation inductances, Bsat, also limit the minimum size of the created ferrites. Since
metals in general have larger Bsat’s they can be made smaller while producing the same
power output and are therefore more desirable in compact designs. A lower Bsat and
higher hysteresis losses also prevent ceramics from replacing magnets in the low
frequency applications. As newer ceramics are created these properties can be improved
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but currently they hinder the performance and subsequently the use of ferrites in certain
situations.
The ceramic magnets used in transformer and inductor cores are various compositions
inferior to those of metals, the ferrites have managed to flourish in several applications.
The specific composition of the ceramic and the manufacturing processes used can
improve these limiting properties of ferrites and enhance their range of applications.
techniques to attain high purity base powders. As the field naturally advances, powders
will become more pure at a lower cost. This will increase not only the actual properties
of the magnet but reduce costs by increasing the predictability of the mix and requiring
will also prevent the finished bars from being excessively fragile due to cracking.
Applications which require more robust ceramics will benefit from this.
currently have permeabilities far below that of Permalloy or even powdered irons due to
grain boundaries, porosity and grain size within the microstructure impairing movement
of the domain walls during polarization changes. Improving sintering techniques through
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alterations to the sintering time, temperature and oxygen content would optimize grain
growth and assist in reaching 100% theoretical density thus increasing the permeability.
This process is again assisted by the higher predictability associated with improving the
purity of the powders. Increased permeability decreases the magnetic field required to
induce a certain magnetization thus reducing the amount of energy inputted into the
system.
Seemingly opposing the suggestion of removing impurities from the mix powders,
there are many untested possible additions to the Mn-Zn and Ni-Zn ferrites that could
improve the performance of the ceramics. These could range from a very wide variety of
oxides which would then require a re-optimization of the entire manufacturing process.
The precise composition and type of oxide would be hard to determine but could raise the
properties of the ceramic to a point where thermal applications are more possible or the
Possibilities for improvement to the field of magnetic ceramics are almost limitless.
4 REFERENCES