Controllable mesostructure, magnetic properties of soft magnetic Fe-Ni-Si by using selective laser melting from nickel coated high silicon steel powder

Fe-Ni-Si soft magnetic parts, using Ni coated high silicon steel powder, were manufactured by selective laser melting process. The type of defect changes from porosity to cracks and the relative density increases, from 50% to 99%, with the decreasing laser scanning speed. The microstructural analyses indicate that the low laser scanning speed fully melted the nickel coating and high-silicon steel core. The EBSD study showed that the separated island and lamellar mesostructures appeared on the top and side view respectively. Moreover, no apparent texture were observed. The magnetization saturation of SLM processed sample decreased, as the laser scanning speed was increased. Consequently, the magnetic properties of SLM processed Fe-Ni-Si alloy also showed anisotropic feature in building and scanning directions, which can be attributed to their different mesostructure.