Creep Behavior Of Thin Laminates Of Iron-Cobalt Alloys For Use In Switched Reluctance Motors And Generators

The United States Air Force is in the process of developing magnetic bearings as well as an aircraft Integrated Power Unit and an Internal Starter/Generator for main propulsion engines. These developments are the driving force behind a new emphasis on high temperature, high strength magnetic materials for power applications. Analytical work, utilizing elasticity theory, in conjunction with design requirements, indicates a need for magnetic materials to have strengths in excess of 80 ksi up to about 1000 degrees F. It is this combination of desired material characteristics that is the motivation for this effort to measure, model, and predict the creep behavior of such advanced magnetic materials. Hiperco® Alloy 50HS, manufactured by Carpenter Technology Corporation, is one of the leading candidates for application and is studied in this effort by subjecting mechanical test specimens to a battery of tensile and creep tests. The tensile tests provide stress versus strain behaviors that clearly indicate: a yield point, a heterogeneous deformation described as LuÌ ders elongation, the Portevin-LeChatelier effect at elevated temperatures, and, most often, a section of homogeneous deformation that concluded with necking and fracture. Creep testing indicated two distinct types of behavior. The first was a traditional response with primary, secondary and tertiary stages, while the second type could be characterized by an abrupt increase in strain rate that acted as a transition from one steady state behavior to another. This second linear region was then followed by the tertiary stage. The relationship between the tensile response and the creep responses is discussed. Analyses of the mechanical behavior includes double linear regression of empirically modeled data, scanning electron microscopy for microstructural investigations, isochronous stress-strain relations, and constant strain rate testing to relate the tensile and creep test parameters. Also, elastic and creep deformation analyses are done, which incorporate material property data and material constants determined along with stress and displacement profiles for a specific Air Force design configuration.