Graded magnetic component and method of forming

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016203899-A1
Application number	US-201615078516-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 23, 2016
Priority date	Oct 31, 2013
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A magnetic component including at least one region is disclosed. The at least one region includes nitrogen and a concentration of the nitrogen in the at least one region is graded across a dimension of the at least one region. Further, a saturation magnetization in the at least one region is graded across the dimension of the at least one region. Further, a method of varying the magnetization values in at least one region of the magnetic component is disclosed.

First claim

1 . A magnetic component, comprising:
at least one region comprising nitrogen, wherein a concentration of nitrogen in the at least one region is graded across a dimension of the at least one region such that a saturation magnetization in the at least one region is graded across the dimension of the at least one region.

2 . The magnetic component of claim 1 , wherein a concentration of carbon in the at least one region is less than 0.05 weight % of the at least one region.

3 . The magnetic component of claim 1 , wherein a concentration of nitrogen in the at least one region is graded in a substantially continuous manner across the dimension of the at least one region.

4 . The magnetic component of claim 1 , wherein the at least one region comprises a first portion having a nitrogen content less than 0.1 weight % of the first portion.

5 . The magnetic component of claim 4 , wherein the at least one region comprises a second portion having a nitrogen content greater than 0.4 weight % of the second portion.

6 . The magnetic component of claim 1 , further comprising a first region and a second region, wherein the at least one region is interposed between the first region and the second region.

7 . The magnetic component of claim 6 , wherein the first region has a nitrogen content less than 0.1 weight % of the first region.

8 . The magnetic component of claim 6 , wherein the second region has a nitrogen content greater than 0.4 weight % of the second region.

9 . The magnetic component of claim 6 , wherein a saturation magnetization of the first region is greater than a saturation magnetization of the at least one region, and the saturation magnetization of the at least one region is greater than a saturation magnetization of second region.

10 . The magnetic component of claim 6 , wherein the first region is magnetic, the at least one region is partially-magnetic, and the second region is non-magnetic.

11 . The magnetic component of claim 1 , wherein the at least one region further comprises an iron based alloy.

12 . An electric machine, comprising the magnetic component of claim 1 .

13 . A magnetic component, comprising:
a first region, a second region, and a third region interposed between the first region and the second region, wherein a concentration of nitrogen in the first region is less than 0.1 wt % of the first region and a concentration of nitrogen in the second region is greater than 0.4 wt % of the second region, and wherein a concentration of nitrogen in the third region is substantially continuously graded across a dimension of the third region.

14 . A method for varying magnetization values in at least one region of a magnetic component, comprising:
disposing a coating comprising a nitrogen stop-off material on at least a portion of the magnetic component to form a mask; and heat-treating the magnetic component in a nitrogen-rich atmosphere at a temperature greater than 700° C. to form the at least one region in the magnetic component, wherein the at least one region is characterized by a gradient in nitrogen content and a gradient in saturation magnetization across a dimension of the at least one region.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the gradient in nitrogen content in the at least one region is achieved by varying a coating parameter comprising one or more of a coating thickness, a coating density, and a surface coating area percentage.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the coating parameter is varied by controlling a deposition parameter used for disposing the coating.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the gradient in nitrogen content in the at least one region is achieved by varying the coating thickness.

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the gradient in nitrogen content in the at least one region is achieved by selectively removing portions of the coating before the step of heat-treating.

19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein a concentration of carbon in the at least one region is controlled to be less than about 0.05 weight % of the at least one region.

20 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising forming a first region and a second region in the magnetic component wherein the at least one region is interposed between the first region and the second region, and wherein the first region has a saturation magnetization greater than the saturation magnetization of the at least one region, and the at least one region has the saturation magnetization greater than a saturation magnetization of the second region.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the first region has a nitrogen content less than the nitrogen content of the at least one region, and the at least one region has the nitrogen content less than a nitrogen content of the second region.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Zou Min
• Johnson Francis
• Reddy Patel Bhageerath
• Alexander James Pellegrino
• El-Refaie Ayman Mohamed Fawzi
• Zhang Wanming

Classifications

• B05D7/14

  to metal, e.g. car bodies (involving a chemical reaction between the metal and the coating C23) · CPC title

• H01F7/021 Primary

  Construction of PM (H01F7/0278 takes precedence; PM compositions H01F1/032) · CPC title

• H01F41/0253

  for manufacturing permanent magnets · CPC title

• C23C8/04

  Treatment of selected surface areas, e.g. using masks · CPC title

• C23C8/26

  of ferrous surfaces · CPC title