Enhanced Properties of Emerging Powders for Magnetic Components

In the mid 1970's two developments made P/M technology applicable to magnetic applications. One was the development of a high purity, high compressibility water atomized powder. The second was the development of pure Fe₂P or Fe₃P powder to admix with iron powder to yield phosphorus iron P/M parts.

Considerable work has been accomplished to produce quality P/M phosphorus irons to compete with traditional materials for magnetic applications. Owing to improvements in powders and sintering techniques, former predictor equations no longer apply, or their precision has been significantly improved, mainly as a result of very low interstitial contents. This report describes these recent developments and briefly discusses emerging problems.