The objective of this project is to provide a proof of concept that manufactured soft magnetic composite parts can be effective in an electric motor; with a focus on using popular powder metallurgy manufacturing techniques and production on an industrial scale with few simple modifications.
Sponsor
Pennsilania State University Materials Reseach Instatute
Team Members
Aidan Adkins Eric Andrewlavage Jongtaik Hong Taeyeon Kim Jiayang Zhang
Project Poster
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Project Video
Project Summary
Overview
With large vehicle companies strongly pushing the market towards electric vehicles, the production of electric motor parts using existing manufacturing techniques is necessary to mass-produce these motors and make them affordable. The stator of the engine, made from a soft magnetic component (SMC), was focused on reducing the amount of copper wire in the electric motor while simultaneously increasing performance. For this a SMC base and coating material needed to be chosen and researched to provide a glimpse of if this can be used in current powder metal manufacturing
Objectives
To provide a proof of concept that parts manufactured from SMCs can be effective in an electric motor with a focus on using popular industry manufacturing techniques and be produced on an industrial scale with few simple modifications.
Approach
• Understanding industrial powder metallurgy processes via interviews and literature.
• Understanding the function and design of the electric motor in modern cars from companies like Tesla and Porsche to pick parts that can be manufactured via powder metallurgy.
• Research bulk materials that have idea properties for SMC part application and sort them on properties, cost, and manufacturability patents and research literature.
• Research coating materials that have idea properties for SMC part application and sort them on properties, cost, and manufacturability via patents and research literature.
• Combine the pros and cons of bulk materials with coating materials and settle on a combination of the two that would give a good balance of all needed aspects.
• Research ways of metal grain orientation via interviews with academics and research literature.
• Brainstorm an approach to forming the coating on the metal powder.
• Order water atomized metal powder for experimental testing, ball milling, heat treatments, and x-ray diffraction.
• Conduct experiments on metal power to prove the correct coating can be formed throughout and on the metal powder after the part has been pressed.
• Put parts into XRD to confirm the coating layer has been formed in a large enough quantity and to see if grain orientation occurred from the ball milling.
Outcomes
• Provided a way to illustrate the production of SMC parts is possible on an industrial scale
• Determined a good base material for powder metallurgy manufacturing that also has the high-level magnetic and electrical properties required for SMC parts.
• Determined a good coating material for the SMC base material that improves the magnetic and electric properties of the part
• Showed that powder and coating can be formed via existing manufacturing techniques