Abstract
Permendur, which is a compound of Fe and Co at a 1:1 ratio, is a kind of soft magnetic material. Permendur is expected to miniaturize and increase the output of mechanical components such as solenoid valves and motors because of low coercive force and high magnetic flux density. Due to poor workability, vanadium (2 mass%) must be added to Permendur, although this causes reduction of coercive force and magnetic flux density. The authors applied Metal Injection Molding (MIM) process to manufacture Permendur compacts. MIM process is attracting a lot of interest for its' cost reduction and mass production method, which can manufacture small sized three-dimensional complex shaped parts. By applying MIM process to Permendur, after processing can be reduced, and coercive force and magnetic flux density can be improved by reducing contents of vanadium. In this research, the effect of vanadium content on magnetic properties under DC magnetic field were investigated by fabricating MIM Permendur compacts. Three types of MIM compacts were manufactured using Fe-49Co-2V alloy powder, iron powder and cobalt powder, which contain 2 mass%, 1 mass% and 0 mass% vanadium. These compacts were sintered at 1250-1400 °C for 3 hours in H2 atmosphere and they were measured magnetic properties in DC magnetic field. By reducing contents of vanadium, magnetic flux density and coercivity are improved in DC magnetic field.
