Laser additive processing of Ni-Fe-V and Ni-Fe-Mo Permalloys: Microstructure and magnetic properties

•Laser additive manufacturing (AM) of soft magnetic Ni-Fe-Mo/V based Permalloys.•Saturation magnetization comparable to conventionally processed soft magnets.•Higher coercivity due to microstructural defects resulting from AM processing.•Potential near-net shape fabrication of magnetic components. Ni-Fe-Mo/V known as Permalloys are of great interest because of widespread applications in transformers, electric motors, and other electromagnetic devices. This letter focuses on the ability to utilize laser-based additive manufacturing, specifically the laser engineered net shaping (LENS™) process, to deposit soft magnetic Ni-Fe-V and Ni-Fe-Mo alloys. Though these alloys have been deposited from an elemental powder blend, they exhibit relatively uniform fcc solid solution microstructures. While the saturation magnetization (Ms) values for the LENS™ deposited alloys is comparable to those of their conventionally processed counterparts, the laser processed alloys exhibit higher coercivity (Hc) values, presumably due to microstructural defects.