High-strength and corrosion-resistant Fe/Al2SiO5 soft magnetic composites fabricated by a nanoscale solid-reaction coating method.

Low mechanical performance is the key technical problem for metal-based soft magnetic composites (SMCs) with core-shell structures needed to be urgently resolved for their actual applications due to the limitation of their conventional preparation methods. In this work, dense sintered Al 2 SiO 5 ceramic layers have been in situ formed and entirely coated on the surfaces of high-purity deformed Fe particles via a low-temperature solid-phase reaction between initially-coated amorphous nano-Al 2 O 3 and nano-SiO 2 to obtain a new ceramic-reinforced Fe/Al 2 SiO 5 SMCs. The fully-densified Fe/Al 2 SiO 5 SMCs exhibit a high transverse rupture strength value of 120 MPa, which exceeds those for most of present metal-based SMCs. These ceramic-coated Fe-based composites also show strong corrosion resistance in water-air and salt-water conditions due to the anti-corrosion Al 2 SiO 5 coating layers completely isolating the deformed Fe particles from the corrosion environments. Good magnetic performance is maintained in these high-strength and corrosion-resistant Fe/Al 2 SiO 5 SMCs due to the suitable thickness of Al 2 SiO 5 coating layers, which promises their broad application prospects for high-power electromagnetic devices in critical environments. Moreover, the fabrication for fully-densified functional metal-ceramic composites by a nanoscale solid-state reaction coating method in this work can provide a new insight for the research and applications of the other new-type metal-based composites. [Display omitted] • New ceramic-reinforced Fe/Al 2 SiO 5 soft magnetic composites have been fabricated. • A high TRS value of 120 MPa is obtained for Fe/AlSiO 5 composites. • Fe/AlSiO 5 composites show strong corrosion resistance. • Good soft magnetic properties were maintained in the composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]