Iowa State University and its Ames Laboratory report that researchers have received a three-year, $2.8 million grant to develop a ductile electrical steel containing 6.5% silicon, twice the amount in electric motor steel today. The extra silicon increases the electrical resistivity of the material by about 50%, helping to make the motors smaller, lighter, more powerful, and more cost effective. Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Jun Cui says he thinks these motors could run at much higher frequencies – jumping from today’s 60 hertz all the way to 400 hertz — but the alloy is currently too brittle and too expensive to make.
Therefore, the U.S. Department of Energy is supporting the work with a three-year, $3.8 million grant from the DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Program. Of that, $2.8 million will support research at Iowa State. The project also includes research partners from the United Technologies Research Center in East Hartford, Connecticut; and the University of Delaware in Newark.
The Iowa State-Ames Laboratory researchers will study and characterize different processes for making the new electrical steel to increase ductility and reduce manufacturing costs. Prof. Cui says that the researchers are also committed to developing materials and motors that do not depend on magnets made with rare-earth materials, which are rising in cost.
“The fundamental drive for this project is that we want more cost-effective and efficient electric motors,” Prof. Cui says. “In about ten years, if we’re lucky, we should see a real impact of this work. We should see these motors on the road.” (Image courtesy Nucor)
http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2016/09/27/electricalsteel
