Effect of ferrite content on the soft magnetic properties enhancement of Fe-based composite materials

Soft magnetic composites are nowadays the subject of intensive research. Due to their high electrical resistance and relatively high permeability values, these materials have a vast application potential. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of increasing Ni-Zn-Cu soft magnetic ferrite content added in Fe@SiO 2 soft magnetic composite samples on the permeability and energy loss. We examined samples containing 0, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 30 volume percentages of ferrite powder. The energy loss separation into high and low induction losses was performed. The energy losses of samples with 2% and 5% of ferrite powder below 0.55 T can be attributed almost solely to domain wall displacements. These samples also possess the highest values of the real part of complex permeability with high frequency stability. We found, that adding small amounts (2–5 vol%) of ferrite powder into Fe@SiO 2 SMCs enhances their magnetic properties. • Particle surface smoothing with negligible negative influence on magnetic properties. • The highest density and the lowest coercivity possess sample with 2% of ferrite. • The lowest AC total energy loss exhibits the sample with 5% ferrite content. • Best frequency stability of complex permeability has sample with 10% of ferrite.