KAWASAKI STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No.

48 March 2003

Electrical Steels
for High-functional Automotive Electrical Components
Corresponding to Energy Saving*

Synopsis:
Electrical steels are applied to some kinds of func-
tional automotive electrical components such as an elec-
trical power steering and a fuel pump. Kawasaki Steel
has developed a new electrical steel suitable for the
newly developed alternator, which improves the effi-
ciency and the output power. The developed material
can attain superiority in both the magnetic properties,
Masaki Kawano Toshiro Fujiyama Tatsuya Aoki
Senior Researcher, Staff Manager, Assistant,
namely higher flux density and lower iron losses in a
Electrical Steel Lab., Electrical Steel Quality Material Engineering high-frequency range, and the workability for helical
Technical Res. Labs. Cotrol Sec., R&D Dept., winding process. A grain oriented electrical steel with
Products Servise & DENSO Corp. high flux density, suitable for the compactness of direct
Development Dept.,
Mizushima Works ignition cores, are also described.

steels to automotive electrical components. As examples

1 Introduction of electrical steels, a newly developed electrical steel
As a means of reducting CO2 emissions and improv- suitable for high-efficiency alternators and an electrical
ing fuel economy to both protect the environment and steel for direct ignition are described.
improve the comfort and decorativeness of automobiles,
progress is being made in the high function design of
2 Application of Electrical Steels to Automotive
various types of electrical components used in automo-
biles and the application of electrical components in part
Electrical Components
of actuator parts. In order to improve the comfort, power performance
Spurred by the development and practical application and fuel economy of automobiles, electrical steels as
of electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles core materials and precision motor parts are used for
(HEV), the 42-V system of recent automotive power these motors and actuators.
supplies1) and proposals for an ISG (integral starter and
2.1 Application to Motors
generator) system, the development of new automotive
electrical components has become active especially in There are from 20–60 small-size motors in automo-
Japan, North America and Europe. Because these auto- biles that are used for various kinds of electrical compo-
motive electrical components are mounted in a limited nents. Figure 1 shows examples of electrical
car space, they are developed always aiming at small components in which motors are used. Cold-rolled steels
size, light weight, high power output, high efficiency and represented by SPCC are mainly used as motor core
low cost. Also, core materials for motors and actuators materials, and motors are mostly DC motors with
that constitute these automotive electrical components brush.2)
should be materially developed to meet these objectives. Figure 2 shows are relationship between core weight
This report describes the application of electrical and Si content of steel for some motors used in the
  2 000 cc class of automotive electrical components. The
* Originally published in Kawasaki Steel Giho, 34(2002)2, core weight and Si content were investigated by disas-
96–100 sembling currently used electrical components. The Si
47
 Electrical sunroof regulator
Rear view mirror Motor

Alternator Fuel pump

Starter

Power seat

Radiator cooling
regulator Power window
Appearance of an electrical power steering part
Electrical
power steering

Fig. 1 Several kinds of motors applied to cars

10
Electrical
Fuel pump power steering
Si content of core material

10 mm
Rotor Rotor core shape
1
(mass％)

Photo 1 Appearance of an electrical power steering

Electrical sunroof Wiper part and the motor core shape
0.1 regulator
Power Starter Alternator
window
noid brake systems, have been proposed7) in order to
0.01 improve the power performance, controllability and fuel
10 100 1 000
Weight of motor core (g) economy of automobiles. It appears that electrical steels
will be used in these new parts.8,9)
Fig. 2 Relationship between the weight of a motor
core and Si content of core materials in sev-
eral automotive components 3 Electrical Steels Suitable for New-Type
High-Efficiency Alternators
content was used as an index to determine whether core Since an automotive generator (alternator) which sup-
materials are electrical steels. plies power to a vehicle (Fig. 3) uses torque obtained
As shown in Fig. 2, whether a steel used in a motor from the engine as the drive source in power generation,
core is an electrical steel or an ordinary steel has no an improvement in power generation efficiency directly
relation to motor weight. SPCC class cold-rolled steels helps to improve fuel economy and reduce CO2. With
are used in power windows and wiper motors, and elec- the development of a new high-efficiency alternator by
trical steels containing not less than 1%Si are used in an electrical component maker, Kawasaki Steel devel-
fuel pumps and motors for electrical power steering. oped an electrical steel suitable for the stator core of an
Photo 1 shows a power steering mechanism and rotor as alternator.10)
examples of parts that contain electrical steels.
3.1 New-Type High-Efficiency Alternators and
In power windows and wipers, which are not con-
Target Material Properties
stantly used, inexpensive cold-rolled steels having are
used as core materials in place of low-iron-loss electrical In order to improve the efficiency of an alternator, it is
steels, in order to improve torque rather than motor effi- effective to increase power output by the multi-polariza-
ciency. In contrast to this, low-iron-loss electrical steels tion of a rotor which drives at high-frequency.11) The
are used in constantly operating fuel pumps to improve steel for the stator should be a high-frequency, low-iron-
motor efficiency. In addition, electrical steels with loss material to suppress losses during high-frequency
reduced hysteresis loss are used in power steering sys- drive, and a high-flux density is required to ensure
tems to reduce torque loss during steering.3,4)
It is expected that with the development of EV and
HEV and the 42 V design of automotive power supplies, Stator core
electrical steels will increasingly be employed in motors Rotor core
and generators for ISGs, power air conditioners and
powder steering systems5) that emphasize efficiency.
2.2 Application to Various Types of Actuators
Grain oriented electrical steels are used in the direct
ignition cores of engine parts,6) as will be explained in
detail later. Actuators, such as solenoid valves and sole- Fig. 3 Appearance and structure of an alternator
48 KAWASAKI STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT
 Appearance Fraction:
Helical winding
after winding {(After SK rolling)/(Before SK rolling) 1} 100

40

Increse fraction
of Yp (％)
30
20
10
0.1％Si
Fig. 4 Production method of stator core (helical 0
60 W10/50
winding method)

Deterioration fraction
of iron loss (％)
40
W10/400
1.72 W10/1 k
Target of 20
the magnetic
properties
1.70 0
1 2 3 4 5
B50 (T)

Conventional
Reduction ratio of SK (％)
(SPCC)
1.68 Mechanical property: Fig. 6 Influence of SK rolling reduction on Yp and
Yp: 180-245 MPa
iron loss
1.66
40 60 80 100 120
W10/400 (W/kg)
3.2.1 High-frequency low iron loss in which
Fig. 5 Target of the magnetic and mechanical prop- SK-induced strain is considered
erties of the material for the development of
high efficiency alternator Figure 6 shows the results of an iron loss evalua-
tion with SK-induced strains of up to several percent in
which Yp control is considered. Yp changes substantially
higher output current values. On the other hand, a stator in proportion to the SK rolling reduction. On the other
core for alternators made of SPCC, a conventional mate- hand, although iron loss increases remarkably at an SK
rial, is manufactured by a high-productivity helical rolling reduction of 0.8%, iron loss deterioration is mod-
winding process as shown in Fig. 4. The dimensional erate at SK rolling reductions exceeding 0.8% and low
accuracy of products during this procedure is ensured by in the high-frequency range of 400 Hz to 1 kHz, which
controlling the mechanical properties, particularly the provides the drive frequencies of the alternator, in com-
yield point (Yp) of the materials. parison with the power frequency of 50 Hz. Therefore, it
To ensure the compatibility of improved efficiency was thought that if the iron loss W10/400 before skinpass
with high productivity of the new alternator, a new steel rolling could be improved by about 30% over a target, it
(shown in Fig. 5) was developed which has W10/400 of not would be possible to obtain target magnetic properties
more than 70 W/kg and B50 of not less than 1.70 T as even after an iron loss deterioration while simultane-
magnetic properties while maintaining workability of ously providing the mechanical property Yp by control-
helical winding with Yp kept at conventional levels (180 ling the skinpass rolling reductions from 0.8 to 5.0%.
to 245 MPa). The total iron loss of the material is divided into hys-
teresis loss and eddy current loss and formulated by the
3.2 Essential Points of Material Developed
following equation:12)
In general, the addition of Si to increase electric resis-
W  Wh (Hysteresis loss)  We (Eddy current loss)
tance is effective in lowering iron losses at high frequen-
 Af / D  BDt 2f 2 / ρ
cies. Conversely, however, the addition of Si also
(A, B: Parameter of structure factor)
reduces magnetic flux density and raises Yp, which
(D: Grain side; ρ: Electric resistance; t: Sheet
decreases the workability of helical winding. Further-
thickness; f : Frequency)
more, Yp tends to vary due to age hardening caused by
solute C, N. Therefore, in order to maintain the worka- The reduction of eddy current loss by reducing sheet
bility of helical winding, it is necessary to use the skin- thickness is effective in improving iron loss in a high
pass rolling process (SK) to suppress aging. For the frequency range. In addition, coarsening the grain size
development, Yp must remain in the target range even and reducing the precipitates are effective in improving
after skinpass rolling for stabilization while at the same hysteresis loss, while strain in steels increases hysteresis
time, high-frequency magnetic properties not provided loss.13) That is, the reason why the above deterioration in
by conventional steels must be ensured. For the newly- high-frequency iron loss by skinpass rolling was less
developed steel, the following technique, which ensures than that in the power frequency of 50 Hz, was because
compatibility between high-frequency magnetic proper- the proportion of hysteresis loss to the total iron loss at
ties and workability, was adopted for a low-Si steel (Si high frequencies was low.
0.1%) with a Yp level equivalent to a conventional one. Therefore, in order to minimize the iron loss before
No. 48 March 2003 49
 Table 1 Magnetic and mechanical properties of the

(Developed/conventional)
SK: Constant
Ratio of iron loss W10/400
1.0 C  0.003％
Coarse grains Target of developed material
iron loss
Thickness W10/400 B50 Yp
0.5 Material
Before After (mm) (W/kg) (T) (MPa)
SK SK Before After Conventional 0.50 110 1.68 200–220
SK SK
Newly developed 0.35 056 1.72 200–220
0
Conventional Decrease in Decrease in

  C  0.02％
Thickness:
0.5 mm
 
hysteresis loss
Decrease in
precipitates
Grain diameter
eddy loss

  
Thickness:
0.35 mm
Table 2 Comparison of alternator efficiency
between a conventional alternator and
control newly developed one
Fig. 7 Improvement of hysteresis loss and eddy cur- Type of alternator Core material Efficiency of alternator
rent loss by the several methods Conventional Conventional (Standard)
New type Newly developed 10％

skinpass rolling, a reduction in sheet thickness (0.5 mm

→ 0.35 mm) for eddy current loss and structure control favorable for magnetic properties were increased, and
for reducing hysteresis loss were examined. Figure 7 B50 was improved greatly.
shows the effect of reducing in sheet thickness and
3.2.3 Stabilization of mechanical properties
structure control on the improvement of iron loss. For
structure control, the C content which induces precipi- When solute C and N are contained in steel, room-
tate in steel was minimized to ultralow C levels to temperature strain aging is suppressed by introducing
reduce hysteresis loss, and the sheet thickness was also mobile dislocations through skinpass rolling. However,
reduced. This enables iron loss to be reduced by about when skinpass rolling is conducted with low rolling
50% compared to conventional materials even after reductions or in some use environments, C and N are re-
skinpass rolling. locked on dislocations and Yp may sometimes increase
abnormally. To prevent this phenomenon, change in Yp
3.2.2 High flux density design
was suppressed as much as possible by minimizing the
It was ascertained that magnetic flux density C content and by precipitating N as AlN through the
decreased by about 0.02 T in terms of B50 due to strains addition of an appropriate amount of Al.
by skinpass rolling, so it was necessary to increase mag-
3.3 Properties of the Developed Material and
netic flux density before skinpass rolling in order to
Alternator
achieve the target magnetic properties.
Therefore, texture control was performed in order to By applying the above development concepts and
increase magnetic flux density. Effective control meth- results, it was possible to develop a new core material
ods include the control of structure before cold rolling for alternators in which high-frequency magnetic prop-
and rolling reduction control,14,15) and optimization of erties and workability of helical winding are combined
chemical compositions.16) Textures were improved by without adding a large amount of Si.
coarsening the structure before cold rolling as much as The mechanical properties and magnetic properties of
possible. This was done by utilizing the improvement in the developed steel are shown in Table 1.
grain growth through the reduction of carbides, which Table 2 shows a comparison of alternator efficiency
was used as a means for reducing iron loss. As a result, between the developed steel and conventional steel. The
it was possible to obtain a steel (Fig. 8) in which the use of the developed steel in the new alternator made it
{111} pole intensity unfavorable for magnetic properties possible to suppress stator iron loss and improve effi-
was suppressed and the {100}, {110} pole intensities ciency by 10%. It is expected that the developed mater-
ial will be used not only in alternators, but also in
motors used in other fuel systems, cooling and air-con-
10
0.1％Si ditioning systems, and new products such as starter gen-
Thickness: 0.50 mm
Relative intensity

8 erators for HEV.

6

4 4 Electrical Steel Suitable for Direct Ignition

2 1} 0} }
Cores
{11 {10 {110
0 Due to the adoption of electronic control, great
Conventional Texture improved progress has been made in engine ignition systems. The
B50: 1.68 T B50: 1.74 T
1990s saw a shift away from the method of distributing
Fig. 8 Improvement of B50 by texture control power with a distributor to perform ignition toward a
50 KAWASAKI STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT
 Table 3 Comparison of typical magnetic properties
between 27RGH100N and 27RGH100

Coil Core Thickness Iron loss(W/kg) Flux density (T)

Material Grade
(mm) W15/50 W17/50 B3 B8
New RGH27RGH100N 0.27 0.71 0.97 1.90 1.93
RGH 27RGH100 0.27 0.71 0.98 1.81 1.89

Ignition plug 2.0 80

27RGH100-N
attachment 27RGH100-N
(Developed)
1.5 60 (Developed)
17)
Fig. 9 Cutaway drawing of stick type ignition coil

µ (103 )
27RGH100

B (T)
1.0 (Conventional) 40

0.5 20
direct ignition system in which independent ignition in 27RGH100
(Conyentional)
each engine cylinder is performed without a distribu- 0
1 10 100 1 000 10 000
0
1 10 100 1 000 10 000
tor.11) In recent years, a revolutionary stick-type direct Magnetization force, H (A/m) Magnetization force, H (A/m)
ignition coil that can be mounted in a plug hole in the
Fig. 10 DC magnetization and permeability curves
upper part of an engine was developed owing to further
of 27RGH100-N and 27RGH100
miniaturization.17) As shown in Fig. 9, the stick shape
was obtained by charging the core material into the cen-
ter of the ignition coil. described by referring to specific examples of applica-
tion.
4.1 Magnetic Properties and Optimum
(1) Small motors used in present automotive electrical
Materials Necessary for Direct Ignition
components are mainly DC motors with brush. How-
An ignition coil is a kind of transformer which gener- ever, electrical steels with an Si content exceeding 1%
ates a high voltage necessary for ignition, and a sec- are used in motors which require high-functionality
ondary voltage necessary for the discharge of an ignition and/or efficiency, such as in power steering and fuel
plug is generated during the cut-off of a current.18) In pumps.
order to obtain this high voltage, the core magnetic (2) Kawasaki Steel developed a steel for the core of a
energy generated by the primary current must be high new alternator which combines the workability of
and the response during the cut-off of the primary cur- helical winding and magnetic properties with an Si
rent must be excellent. This requires an orient electrical content that is equivalent to that of cold-rolled steels
steel having high magnetic flux density and excellent (0.1%). This steel was used to create a high-efficiency
magnetic permeability. In addition, because the increase alternator featuring a conventional helical winding
in flux density permits the miniaturization of a core, it process, which was put to practical use. It is expected
contributes directly to stick-type miniaturization. that the application of this steel will be expanded to
Kawasaki Steel developed New RGH, an oriented motors used in other fuel systems, cooling and air-
electrical steel which has higher magnetic flux density conditioning systems and new products such as starter
than conventional oriented electrical steels. This new generators for HEV.
oriented electrical steel has earned a reputation as a (3) A high-flux-density, oriented electrical steel suitable
high-quality material for transformer cores.19) Table 3 for the core of a stick-type small direct ignition coil
and Fig. 10 show the magnetic properties and µ-H and was also described. The use of this oriented electrical
B-H properties, respectively, of New RGH of the steel of high B and high µ, should contribute to the
27P100 class (a representative example) in comparison miniaturization of an ignition coil.
with conventional RGH. New RGH provides magnetic With the development of electric vehicles, hybrid
flux density which is higher by 0.04 T in terms of B8 electric vehicles and the 42 V system of automobile
than RGH. New RGH also has excellent magnetic per- power supply, electrical steels will undoubtedly be used
meability in a low magnetic field. The application of in a wider variety of parts. By developing electrical
New RGH to the core material of direct ignition should steels suited to uses of these diverse parts, Kawasaki
contribute substatially to the miniaturization of a stick- Steel will contribute to the intelligent design of automo-
type direct ignition coil. biles.

References
5 Conclusions
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motive electrical components and electrical steels suit- Technical Meeting on Rotating Machinery IEE Japan, RM-
able for high-functional electrical components has been 00-166(2000), 53

No. 48 March 2003 51

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52 KAWASAKI STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT