Soft magnetic materials are key to the efficient operation of the next generation of power electronics and electrical machines (motors and generators). Many new materials have been introduced since Michael Faraday’s discovery of magnetic induction, when iron was the only option. However, as wide bandgap semiconductor devices become more common in both power electronics and motor controllers, there is an urgent need to further improve soft magnetic materials. These improvements will be necessary to realize the full potential in efficiency, size, weight, and power of high-frequency power electronics and high–rotational speed electrical machines. Here we provide an introduction to the field of soft magnetic materials and their implementation in power electronics and electrical machines. Additionally, we review the most promising choices available today and describe emerging approaches to create even better soft magnetic materials.

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Novel Co-based soft magnetic materials are presented as a potential substitute for electrical steels in high speed motors for current industry applications. The low losses, high permeabilities, and good mechanical strength of these materials enable application in high rotational speed induction machines. Here, we present a finite element analysis of Parallel Path Magnetic Technology rotating motors constructed with both silicon steel and Co-based nanocomposite. The later achieved a 70% size reduction and an 83% reduction on NdFeB magnet volume with respect to a similar Si-steel design.

FINEMET type ribbons (Fe 73.5 Si 13.5 Nb 3−x Mo x B 9 Cu 1 , x = 1.5, 2 at.%) were produced by the planar flow casting technique and subsequently heat treated at 823 K to induce nanocrystallization and to optimize its soft magnetic properties. The coercivity, measured by conventional fluxmetric method, resulted in H C = 0.53 ± 0.10 and 0.41 ± 0.05 A/m for x = 1.5 and 2 respectively. A correlation between magnetic properties and the amorphous and nanocrystalline phases when Nb was partially substituted with Mo was studied by means of Mössbauer spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction.

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