Electric motor design is about more than just reducing cost -- it’s about the chance to get innovative and exceed performance expectations.
If you’re already experimenting with new electric motor solutions that are a little "different,” consider incorporating powder metallurgy (PM) into your plan. Whether you’re looking for electric motor efficiency or cost reduction, chances are a PM solution exists.
Use this hub as a resource for understanding the advantages of powder metallurgy for motor applications vs. competing technologies like electrical steel laminations. Below you can learn more about the untapped potential powder metallurgy holds for motor makers -- and how you can use it to push the boundaries of your design.
Using powder metal parts to cut costs is nothing new. Using powder metal components to further the “electrification” of transportation and other electromagnetic applications is the new frontier for driving performance and cost-efficiency to new heights.
In the case of transportation, these opportunities go far beyond the traditional automobile. Powder metallurgy processes and materials are seeing more use in:
Powder metal materials and processes can optimize both AC and DC motors -- everything from axial flux motors to magnetic torque tunnels. Basically, anything that needs to be small and efficient needs to include metal powder parts.
Resource: 3 Trends in Manufacturing Auto Parts: Does Powder Metal Have a Place?
A powder metal part is born when premixed iron alloy is pressed into a desired shape to produce 3D structures. Because it’s a material-efficient, net-shape process, it’s dramatically easier and more efficient to design with powder metal vs. machining or another subtractive process.
Think about how engineers place electric car motors on the front or rear axle -- space is at a premium. Today it’s possible to redesign the motor with powdered metal components to use space more efficiently. You can use the extra space to include other components or just make the entire product smaller and lighter!
Advanced powder metallurgy manufacturers are here to help e-motor designers meet the increasing demand for smaller electric and hybrid motors.
Resource: Electric Motor Efficiency & 4 Other Uses for Soft Magnetic Composite
Manufacturers are committing to further optimizing electric drive components to reduce weight in e-vehicles.
A smaller motor is naturally lighter. Using fewer and smaller components is where powder metal shines.
Resource: A Groundbreaking Rotor Material
Developments in ultra-high-temperature sintering coupled with advanced materials can create solenoids and relays used in actuators that need more rapid response times.
Additionally, rotors used in brushless DC motors can achieve high magnetic performance when you use sintered soft magnetic powders.
Resource: What Is Sintered Soft Magnetic Material?
Soft magnetic materials are the perfect match for motors and stators. They possess competitive magnetic properties, but with higher electrical resistivity.
Use one of the many unique grades of soft magnetic composite as your new electric motor material to attain the highest frequencies possible.
Cutting costs for a growing variety of pressed and sintered motor components remains the heart of powder metallurgy.
If your current design is cumbersome and producing excessive scrap, consider a redesign with powder metal. PM produces a more compact design with virtually no leftover material -- scrap waste rarely exceeds 3%.
Sometimes powder metallurgy can even reduce the number of parts needed in an assembly traditionally made with electrical lamination steel.
Resource: Soft Magnetic Composites: A Visual Crash Course on Improving Motor Efficiency
In the race to innovate, electric motor designers no longer need a “good enough” solution, they need a great solution. Powder metallurgy’s benefits go hand in hand with cutting-edge design.
How can Horizon help you brainstorm a solution? Share your design challenges via the form, and an expert engineer will get back to you shortly.
Fran Hanejko is an industry-leading expert who works with Horizon as our Senior Advanced Materials Engineer. Fran has decades of experience in powder metallurgy, including managing customer applications for a world-leading raw material supplier. He graduated from Drexel University in 1974 with a master’s degree in materials engineering.
Contact Fran with your materials questions by filling out the form on this page.
Powder Metallurgy (PM) has established itself as a leading-edge parts manufacturing process - enabling new designs with simplified production while simultaneously offering cost effectiveness and reduced carbon emissions. What started out offering self-lubricating bearings has evolved into a process capable of meeting the most stringent mechanical property demands for automotive, lawn and garden, HVAC, power tools... This high performance evolution at Horizon Technology is a synergy of unique powders coupled with advancements in both compaction and sintering technologies to create 3 pillars of powder metallurgy.
Today’s manufacturing environment demands flexibility of design along with minimum energy consumption and long-term reliability. Flexibility of design means the ability to create complex 3D shapes while minimizing machining losses (also an energy waster). What if you can take your current design, either a single piece (requiring extensive machining) or a complex multi-piece assembly, and convert it into one piece with known reliability and potential cost-saving advantages. The answer is powder metallurgy (PM). PM is an established metal-forming process that utilizes particulate materials that is compacted in a closed die enabling a wide variety of shapes, see figure 1 below for some of the many shapes enabled by PM.
Much like the automotive market, the electric motor market is undergoing a dramatic revolution aimed at higher performance and reduced energy consumption. This is not to suggest that the traditional radial flux motor design will be totally replaced but there are numerous new and existing applications where weight, size, performance, and energy consumption will play a more dominant role in the motor selection. The old adage of “one size fits all” can no longer be used in the design of electric motors with each application having its own unique requirements. What are the current new motor design types under consideration and what are their potential advantages?
You may be asking why we’re advocating for the use of Ultra High-Temperature Sintering (UHTS) for powder metal components – As discussed previously, this revolutionary sintering process offers performance-enhancing benefits (such as lighter weight, reduced size, and higher fatigue strength) to a wide variety of applications (speed reducer sets, transmission components, ceiling fans, mobility applications, parking pawls, and more).
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