High-strength FeSiCr soft magnetic composite fabricated via liquid-phase sintering for high-frequency applications

Soft magnetic composites (SMCs) are essential materials for electronic devices due to their high saturation magnetization. However, traditional SMCs fabricated by cold-pressing method possess low strength and insufficiently reliable insulation, which restricts their further application. In this study, liquid-phase sintering technique is introduced and optimized to fabricate FeSiCr/MoO3 SMCs. During sintering, ammonium molybdate (AMT) decomposes to form liquid-phase MoO3, which helps to achieve insulation and promote the formation of a transition layer on the surface of FeSiCr. The most optimum sample (the 400 MPa/800 degrees C /6 wt% sample) is obtained with crushing strength of 329.8 MPa, real part permeability of 29.7 (1 MHz), cut-off frequency of 116 MHz, high saturation magnetization of 177.3 emu/g and power loss of 1224.4 kW/m(3) (10 MHz, 5 mT). This study indicates that liquid-phase sintering may be a reliable means for developing novel SMCs.