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Choice of materials and processes
Published in William Bolton, R.A. Higgins, Materials for Engineers and Technicians, 2020
Most metals are crystalline in their solid state, having a highly ordered arrangement of atoms. The term amorphous metal is used for a solid metallic material, usually an alloy, which has been developed to have a disordered atomic-scale structure and so is non-crystalline with a glass-like structure. However, unlike glass such as window glass, amorphous metals have good electrical conductivity and are not electrical insulators.
Design Considerations—Inside/Outside Windings for a Distributed Photovoltaic Grid Power Transformer
Published in Hemchandra Madhusudan Shertukde, Distributed Photovoltaic Grid Transformers, 2017
Hemchandra Madhusudan Shertukde
Amorphous metal is a new class of material having no crystalline formation. Conventional metals possess crystalline structures in which the atoms form an orderly, repeated, three-dimensional array. Amorphous metals are characterized by a random arrangement of their atoms (because the atomic structure resembles that of glass, the material is sometimes referred to as glassy metal). This atomic structure, along with the difference in the composition and thickness of the metal, accounts for the very low hysteresis and eddy current losses in the new material.
Distribution Transformers
Published in Leonard L. Grigsby, Electric Power Transformer Engineering, 2017
Dudley L. Galloway, Dan Mulkey, Alan L. Wilks
The major improvement in core materials was the introduction of silicon steel in 1932. Over the years, the performance of electrical steels has been improved by grain orientation (1933) and continued improvement in the steel chemistry and insulating properties of surface coatings. The thinner and more effective the insulating coatings are, the more efficient a particular core material will be. The thinner the laminations of electrical steel, the lower the losses in the core due to circulating currents. Mass production of distribution transformers has made it feasible to replace stacked cores with wound cores. C-cores were first used in distribution transformers around 1940. A C-core is made from a continuous strip of steel, wrapped and formed into a rectangular shape, and then annealed and bonded together. The core is then sawn in half to form two C-shaped sections that are machine faced and reassembled around the coil. In the mid-1950s, various manufacturers developed wound cores that were die formed into a rectangular shape and then annealed to relieve their mechanical stresses. The cores of most distribution transformers made today are made with wound cores (originally patented in 1933). Typically, the individual layers are cut, with each turn slightly lapping over itself. This allows the core to be disassembled and put back together around the coil structures while allowing a minimum of energy loss in the completed core. Electrical steel manufacturers now produce stock for wound cores that is from 0.35 to 0.18 mm thick in various grades. In the early 1980s, rapid increases in the cost of energy prompted the introduction of amorphous core steel. Amorphous metal is cooled down from the liquid state so rapidly that there is no time to organize into a crystalline structure. Thus it forms the metal equivalent of glass and is often referred to as metal glass or “met-glass.” Amorphous core steel is usually 0.025 mm thick and offers another choice in the marketplace for transformer users that have very high energy costs.
A comparative study of Sm networks in Al-10 at.%Sm glass and associated crystalline phases
Published in Philosophical Magazine Letters, 2018
Xiaobao Lv, Zhuo Ye, Yang Sun, Feng Zhang, Lin Yang, Zijing Lin, Cai-Zhuang Wang, Kai-Ming Ho
Amorphous metal structures have higher tensile yield strengths, higher elastic strain limits and special magnetic properties compared to traditional polycrystalline metal [1–3]. These amorphous metals can be synthesised by driving the alloy system far from equilibrium using rapid solidification. When heated, the glasses often devitrify into novel and complex metastable crystalline phases not observed in traditional synthesis. These crystal structures have well-defined structural orders in terms of both local atomic packing and long-range translational periodicity. It is generally believed that there is some correlation between the structural order in amorphous glasses and these devitrified crystalline structures. However, the ‘hidden’ features that steer the initial transition from the amorphous to the crystalline state are still not clear.