Effect of stress on magnetic losses and role of Mn addition in Fe-Si rapidly solidified ribbons

It is shown that bending stresses detrimentally affect magnetic losses in F e-Si ribbons at all frequencies, to an extent that is minimum at 6.7 wt% Si concentration. A magnetoelastically induced redistribution of the domains among the easy axes is assumed to be the leading cause for the observed ext ra losses upon bending. Addition of 0.15 wt% Mn, while not affecting the ma gnetic properties, is shown to improve the mechanical behavior of the relat ively brittle low-loss high-Si alloys. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All r ights reserved.