Soft magnetic powder materials are used throughout industries such as motors and power converters. When manufacturing Fe-based soft magnetic composites, the size and shape of the soft magnetic powder and the microstructure in the powder are closely related to the magnetic properties. In this study, Fe-Si-Al-P alloy powders were manufactured using various manufacturing process parameter sets, and the process parameters of the vacuum induction melt gas atomization process were set as melt temperature, atomization gas pressure, and gas flow rate. Process variable data that records are converted into 6 types of data for each powder recovery section. Process variable data that recorded minute changes were converted into 6 types of data and used as input variables. As output variables, a total of 6 types were designated by measuring the particle size, flowability, apparent density, and sphericity of the manufactured powders according to the process variable conditions. The sensitivity of the input and output variables was analyzed through the Pearson correlation coefficient, and a total of 6 powder characteristics were analyzed by artificial neural network model. The prediction results were compared with the results through linear regression analysis and response surface methodology, respectively.

Smart materials capable of changing their characteristics in response to stimuli such as light, heat, pH, and electric and magnetic fields are promising for application to flexible electronics, soft robotics, and biomedicine. Compared with conventional rigid materials, these materials are typically composed of soft materials that improve the biocompatibility and allow for large and dynamic deformations in response to external environmental stimuli. Among them, smart magnetic materials are attracting immense attention owing to their fast response, remote actuation, and wide penetration range under various conditions. In this review, we report the material design and fabrication of smart magnetic materials. Furthermore, we focus on recent advances in their typical applications, namely, soft magnetic actuators, sensors for self-assembly, object manipulation, shape transformation, multimodal robot actuation, and tactile sensing.

We investigate the effect of phosphorous content on the microstructure and magnetic properties of Fe83.2Si5.33-0.33xB10.67-0.67xPxCu0.8 (x = 1–4 at.%) nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloys. The simultaneous addition of Cu and P to nanocrystalline alloys reportedly decreases the nanocrystalline size significantly, to 10–20 nm. In the P-containing nanocrystalline alloy, P atoms are distributed in an amorphous residual matrix, which suppresses grain growth, increases permeability, and decreases coercivity. In this study, nanocrystalline ribbons with a composition of Fe83.2Si5.33-0.33xB10.67- 0.67xPxCu0.8 (x = 1–4 at.%) are fabricated by rapid quenching melt-spinning and thermal annealing. It is demonstrated that the addition of a small amount of P to the alloy improves the glass-forming ability and increases the resistance to undesirable Fex(B,P) crystallization. Among the alloys investigated in this work, an Fe83.2Si5B10P1Cu0.8 nanocrystalline ribbon annealed at 460oC exhibits excellent soft-magnetic properties including low coercivity, low core loss, and high saturation magnetization. The uniform nanocrystallization of the Fe83.2Si5B10P1Cu0.8 alloy is confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis.

Iron-based amorphous powder attracts increasing attention because of its excellent soft magnetic properties and low iron loss at high frequencies. The development of an insulating layer on the surface of the amorphous soft magnetic powder is important for minimizing the eddy current loss and enhancing the energy efficiency of highfrequency devices by further increasing the electrical resistivity of the cores. In this study, a hybrid insulating coating layer is investigated to compensate for the limitations of monolithic organic or inorganic coating layers. Fe2O3 nanoparticles are added to the flexible silicon-based epoxy layer to prevent magnetic dilution; in addition TiO2 nanoparticles are added to enhance the mechanical durability of the coating layer. In the hybrid coating layer with optimal composition, the decrease in magnetic permeability and saturation magnetization is suppressed.

Synthesis of composite powders for the Fe2O3-Zn system by mechanical alloying (MA) has been investigated at room temperature. Optimal milling and heat treatment conditions to obtain soft magnetic composite with fine microstructure were investigated by X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurement. It is found that α-Fe/ZnO composite powders in which ZnO is dispersed in α-Fe matrix can be obtained by MA of Fe2O3 with Zn for 4 hours. The change in magnetization and coercivity also reflects the details of the solid-state reduction process of hematite by pure metal of Zn during MA. Densification of the MA powders was performed in a spark plasma sintering (SPS) machine at 900 ~ 1,000 ℃ under 60 MPa. Shrinkage change after SPS of sample MA'ed for 5 hrs was significant above 300 ℃ and gradually increased with increasing temperature up to 800 ℃. X-ray diffraction results show that the average grain size of α-Fe in the α-Fe/ZnO composite sintered at 900 ℃ is in the range of 110 nm.

Information and communication technologies are developing rapidly as IC chip size becomes smaller and information processing becomes faster. With this development, digital circuit technology is being widely applied to mobile phones, wireless LANs, mobile terminals, and digital communications, in which high frequency range of GHz is used. In highdensity electronic circuits, issues of noise and EMC(Electro-Magnetic Compatibility) arising from cross talk between interconnects or devices should be solved. In this study, sheet-type electromagnetic wave absorbers that cause electromagnetic wave attenuation are fabricated using composites based on soft magnetic metal powder and silicon rubber to solve the problem of electromagnetic waves generated in wireless communication products operating at the frequency range of 2.4 GHz. Sendust(Fe-Si-Al) and carbonyl iron(Fe-C) were used as soft magnetic metals, and their concentrations and sheet thicknesses were varied. Using soft magnetic metal powder, a sheet is fabricated to exhibit maximum electromagnetic attenuation in the target frequency band, and a value of 34.2dB(99.9 % absorption) is achieved at the target frequency.

The recent development of information and communication technologies brings new changes to automobile traffic systems. The most typical example is the advancement of dedicated short range communication(DSRC). DSRC mainly consists of an intelligent transportation system(ITS), an electronic toll collection system(ETCS) and an advanced traveler information system(ATIS). These wireless communications often cause unnecessary electromagnetic waves, and these electromagnetic waves, in turn, cause frequent system malfunction. To solve this problem, an absorber of electromagnetic waves is suggested. In this research, various materials, such as powdered metal and iron oxides, are used to test the possibility for an effective absorption of the unnecessary electromagnetic waves. The various metal powders are made into a thin sheet form by compositing through processing. The electromagnetic characteristics(complex permittivity, complex permeability) of the fabricated sheet are measured. As a result, we achieve –6.5 dB at 940 MHz(77.6 % absorption rate) with a 1.0 mm-thickness electromagnet wave absorber, and –9.5 dB at 940 MHz(88.8 % absorption rate) with a 2.0 mm-thickness absorber.

Fabrication of soft magnetic composite powders for the Fe2O3-Ca system by mechanical alloying(MA) has been investigated at room temperature. It is found that soft magnetic composite powders in which CaO is dispersed in α-Fe matrix are obtained by MA of Fe2O3 with Ca for 5 hours. Changes in magnetization and coercivity also reflect the details of the solidstate reduction process of hematite by pure metal of Ca during MA. The saturation magnetization of MA powders increases with increasing MA time and reaches a maximum value of 65 emu/g after 7 hours of MA. The average grain size of α-Fe in MA powders, estimated by diffraction line-width, gradually decreases with increasing MA time and reaches 52 nm after 5 hours of MA. It can also be seen that the coercivity of the 5-hour MA sample is fairly high at 190 Oe, suggesting that the grain refinement of already-produced α-Fe tends to clearly occur during MA.

Fe-6.5 wt.% Si alloys are widely known to have excellent soft magnetic properties such as high magnetic flux density, low coercivity, and low core loss at high frequency. In this work, disc-shaped preforms are prepared by spark plasma sintering at 1223 K after inert gas atomization of Fe-6.5 wt.% Si powders. Fe-6.5 wt.% Si sheets are rolled by a powder hot-rolling process without cracking, and their microstructure and soft magnetic properties are investigated. The microstructure and magnetic properties (saturation magnetization and core loss) of the hot-rolled Fe-6.5 wt.% Si sheets are examined by scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, vibration sample magnetometry, and AC B–H analysis. The Fe-6.5 wt.% Si sheet rolled at a total reduction ratio of 80% exhibits good soft magnetic properties such as a saturation magnetization of 1.74 T and core loss (W5/1000) of 30.7 W/kg. This result is caused by an increase in the electrical resistivity resulting from an increased particle boundary density and the oxide layers between the primary particle boundaries.

In this study, ultra-fine soft-magnetic micro-powders are prepared by high-pressure gas atomization of an Fe-based alloy, Fe-Hf-B-Nb-P-C. Spherical powders are successfully obtained by disintegration of the alloy melts under high-pressure He or N2 gas. The mean particle diameter of the obtained powders is 25.7 μm and 42.1 μm for He and N2 gas, respectively. Their crystallographic structure is confirmed to be amorphous throughout the interior when the particle diameter is less than 45 μm. The prepared powders show excellent soft magnetic properties with a saturation magnetization of 164.5 emu/g and a coercivity of 9.0 Oe. Finally, a toroidal core is fabricated for measuring the magnetic permeability, and a μr of up to 78.5 is obtained. It is strongly believed that soft magnetic powders prepared by gas atomization will be beneficial in the fabrication of high-performance devices, including inductors and motors.

Magnetic and dielectric properties of rubber composites are controlled by using two kinds of high-permeability metal particles with different electrical conductivity (Sendust, Permalloy), and their effect on microwave absorbance has been investigated, focusing on the quasi-microwave frequency band (0.8-2 GHz). Noise absorbing sheets are composite materials of magnetic flake particles of high aspect ratio dispersed in polymer matrix with various filler amount of 80-90 wt.%. The frequency dispersion and magnitude of complex permeability is almost the same for Sendust and Permalloy composite specimens. However, the complex permittivity of the Permalloy composite (, ) is much greater than that of Sendust composite (, ). Due to the large dielectric permittivity of Permalloy composite, the absorbing band is shifted to lower frequency region. However, the investigation of impedance matching reveals that the magnetic permeability is still small to satisfy the zero-reflected condition at the quasi-microwave frequency band, resulting in a small microwave absorbance lower than 10 dB.

The electromagnetic wave absorption sheets were fabricated by mixing of nanocrystalline soft magnetic powder, charcoal powder and polymer based binder. The complex permittivity, complex permeability, and scattering parameter have been measured using a network analyzer in the frequency range of 10 MHz10 GHz. The results showed that complex permittivity of sheets was largely dependent on the frequency and the amount of charcoal powder : The permittivity was improved up to 100 MHz, however the value was decreased above 1 GHz. The power loss of electromagnetic wave absorption data showed almost the same tendency as the results of complex permittivity. However, the complex permeability was not largely affected by the frequency, and the values were decreased with the addition of charcoal powder. Based on the results, it can be summarized that the addition of charcoal powder was very effective to improve the EM wave absorption in the frequency range of 10 MHz1 GHz.

The electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption properties with a variation of crystallization annealing temperature have been investigated in a sheet-type absorber using the alloy powder. With increasing the annealing temperature the complex permeability (), permittivity () and power absorption changed. The EM wave absorber shows the maximum permeability and permittivity after the annealing at for 1 hour, and its calculated power absorption is above 80% of input power in the frequency range over 1.5 GHz.

The electromagnetic wave (EM) absorption properties of various particle size have been investigated in a sheet-type absorber using the alloy powder. With decreasing the average particle size, the complex permeability () and permittivity () increased and the matching frequency is shifted toward lower frequency. The fabricated EM wave absorbers showed permeability , permittivity for a mesh sample, and the calculated power absorption was as high as 80% in the frequency range over 2 GHz.

Innovative SMC with low iron loss was made from iron powders with evaporated MgO insulation coating. The coating had greater heat-resistance than conventional phosphatic insulation coating, which enabled stress relieving annealing at higher temperature. Magnetic properties of toroidal samples (OD35mm,ID25mm, t5) were examined. The iron loss at 50Hz for Bm = 1.5T was lower 50% of conventional SMC and was almost the same with silicon iron laminations(t0.35). It became clear that MgO insulation coating has enough heat resistance and adhesiveness to powdersurface to obtain innovative SMC with low iron loss.

We reported a P/M soft magnetic material with core loss value of , which is lower than that of 0.35mm-thick laminated material, by using high purity gas-atomized iron powder. Lack of mechanical strength and high cost of powder production are significant issues for industrial use. In order to achieve both low core loss and high strength by using inexpencive powder, the improvement of powder shape and surface morphology and binder strength was conducted. As the result, the material based on water-atomized powder with 80 MPa of TRS and 108 W/kg of core loss (W10/1k) was achieved.

Influences of machining on magnetic properties of soft magnetic composites (SMC's) with addition of two kinds of binder, i.e., organic binder and inorganic one, were investigated. Machining does not affect DC magnetic properties of the SMC compacts. This can be ascribed to their particular structure in which the ironpowder particles are highly isolated by the binder. On the other hand, decrease in resistivity and resultant increase in eddy current loss was confirmed in the machined compacts containing inorganic binder. It is supposed that the brittleadditive binder existing between the iron particles is partly broken, and iron-to-iron contact is formed on the machined surface.