Effect of stress on magnetic losses and role of Mn addition in Fe–Si rapidly solidified ribbons

It is shown that bending stresses detrimentally affect magnetic losses in Fe–Si ribbons at all frequencies, to an extent that is minimum at 6.7 wt% Si concentration. A magnetoelastically induced redistribution of the domains among the easy axes is assumed to be the leading cause for the observed extra losses upon bending. Addition of 0.15 wt% Mn, while not affecting the magnetic properties, is shown to improve the mechanical behavior of the relatively brittle low-loss high-Si alloys.