Lessons Learnt - Development Of Additive Manufacturing For Soft Magnetic Electric Motor Components

Clean and smart electrification is at the core of the European Green Deal since it is definitively a key option for society’s decarbonization and for tackling climate change. The electrification transformation of processes and mobility is creating an unparalleled demand for components like electric machines. This, concurrently, is causing a huge push towards higher efficiencies and power densities, lighter weights, and customized solutions for electric machines, meaning that innovation in the field is required to fulfil future demands. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is seen as an enabler in producing components for novel electric machine architectures with designs and performance unattainable with conventional manufacturing. In this study we summarize development of Laser Powder Bed Fusion route for soft magnetic electric motor components starting from tailoring of soft magnetic material for L-PBF process and ending to demonstration of electric motor stator and rotor components. The paper highlights our findings and challenges to tackle. The effect of alloying elements, L-PBF parameters, and post-processing routines on magnetic performance are discussed.