Diamond-like carbon coatings for electrical steel

电工钢是一种以薄带生产的钢，可以堆叠在一起形成电磁铁中的磁芯。这种电磁体用于电力变压器或电动机中，但在这些应用中使用的电磁体可能遭受称为“涡流”和“磁滞”损耗的电损耗。这些损耗的一个影响是变压器产生的可闻的嗡嗡声。磁滞损耗是由于电磁体的开启和关闭而产生的，而涡流损耗是由于电磁体中使用的材料而产生的。碳基材料，例如类金刚石碳，可用于最小化由于涡电流引起的能量损失。例如，即使在这些损失方面有1%的改善，在25年的Transformer寿命中，每吨电工钢也将减少3至4吨二氧化碳。该项目旨在确定一种合适的技术，用于在钢基底上大面积生产保形类金刚石碳涂层。将类金刚石碳与电磁铁技术相结合，将为电动汽车等绿色技术生产更高效的变压器和电动机。

Electrical steel is a steel produced in thin strips which can be stacked together to form a magnetic core in electromagnets. Such electromagnets are used in electrical transformers or electric motors, but the electromagnets used in these applications can suffer from electrical losses called “eddy current” and “hysteresis” losses. One effect of these losses is the audable hum produced by transformers. Whereas hysteresis losses arise from turning on and off the electromagnet, eddy losses arise due to the materials used in the electromagnet. Carbon based materials, such as diamond like carbon, can be used to minimise the energy losses due to the eddy currents. For example, even a 1 % improvement in these losses will give a reduction of three to four tonnes of carbon dioxide per tonne of electrical steel over the 25 year transformer lifetime.This project aims to identify a suitable technology for producing conformal diamond-like carbon coatings over large areas on steel substrates. Integration of the diamond-like carbon into electromagnet technology will produce more efficient transformers and electrical motors for green technologies, such as electric vehicles.