New Powder Core Materials for

High Frequency and High Current

Mark A. Swihart
VP – Technology and Product Development
 Magnetics’ Powder Core Materials
Kool Mµ 75 Series XFlux® Kool Mµ® MAX High Flux MPP

6.5% Silicon
Type Sendust Blend Sendust High Flux MPP
Iron

Iron / Silicon / Iron / Silicon / 6.5% Silicon Iron / Silicon /

Alloy Composition 50% Nickel Iron Permalloy
Aluminum Aluminum Iron Aluminum

Available Perms 14-125 26-60 19-90 19-60 14-160 14-300

Core Loss 550 1200 1350 550 625 450

(mW/cm3 @ 100 kHz, 100 mT)

Perm vs. DC Bias 96 150 165 130 185 106

(Oe) 50% of µi

Relative Cost 1x 1.1x 1.2x 2x 4x-6x 7x-9x

 Material Comparison

Property Best → → → → Weakest

µ vs. DC Bias High Flux XFlux 75 Series Kool Mµ MAX MPP Kool Mµ

AC Core Loss MPP Kool Mµ MAX Kool Mµ 75 Series XFlux High Flux

Cost Kool Mµ 75 Series XFlux Kool Mµ MAX High Flux MPP

µ vs. Temp Stability MPP Kool Mµ MAX Kool Mµ High Flux 75 Series XFlux

Temperature Rating 200°C continuous use for all materials

Range of Available
MPP High Flux Kool Mµ Kool Mµ MAX XFlux 75 Series
Perms
Inherent Advantages of Powder Cores
1. Soft Saturation Curve

Discrete Gap Distributed Gap

(Ferrite) (Powder Core)

Sharp Saturation Soft Saturation

Lower material Bmax Higher material Bmax

Design for minimal shift Design for shift

– lower IPeak – higher IPeak

Fault condition risk Inherent fault tolerance

5
DC Bias - Powder Core vs. Gapped Ferrite
1.0

0.9
60 permeability
Kool Mµ
Per Unit of Initial Permeability

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4
Ferrite gapped to an
effective permeability of 60
0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0
1 10 100 1000
DC Magnetizing Force (Oersteds)

6
Operating Design Point
The gapped ferrite must be kept a safe distance away
from the sudden rolloff. Small shifts in the rolloff
curve, or in the operating point, could have a
FERRITE disastrous effect. This curve shifts to the left with
increasing temperature.

POWDER CORE
INDUCTANCE

The powder core is safely

designed to operate part way
down the curve. The curve
does not shift significantly
with increasing temperature.

CURRENT Ferrite Powder Core

Current Current

7
Magnetization Curves

No Gap Bsaturation

Distributed Gap
Discrete
No Gap
Gap
Bsaturation

Powder Core Advantages:

1. Higher Bsaturation
2. Softer Saturation
3. Full saturation at high temperature
(not shown)

8
Comparison of 60µ Cores

9
Inherent Advantages of Powder Cores
2. Temperature Stability
Discrete Gap Distributed Gap
(Ferrite) (Powder Core)

Low Curie Temp High Curie Temp

Bmax lower at high temp Bmax flat to high temp

DC bias lower at temp DC bias same at temp

10
Alloy Saturation Curves vs. Ferrite
16

HIGH FLUX
14

12

10
Saturation
Flux 8
MPP
Density 6
in kG
4
FER
RITE
2

0
-50 0 50 100 150 200

Temperature °C
11
DC Bias and Temperature
1.0
MPP, 250C
0.9
Per Unit of Initial Permeability
0
and 75 C
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5 Ferrite
750C
0.4
0.3 Ferrite
250C
0.2
0.1
0.0
1 10 Hdc (Oersteds) 100
12
 Inherent Advantages of Powder Cores

3. Leakage, EMI, and Fringing Flux

Discrete Gap Distributed Gap

(Ferrite) (Powder Core)
EMI effects from gap(s) Minimized EMI effects, particularly
for self-shielded toroids
Losses from fringing flux at gap, No fringing effect
particularly for high current
(large gaps)
High µ material–minimal Low µ material–near field leakage
leakage at the surface effects at the surface

13
Fringing Flux / Leakage Flux
Ferrite Powder Core

14
Fringing Losses
Flux bowing into the space
occupied by copper conductor
generates eddy current losses in
the coil.

The fringing losses can easily

exceed the AC core losses.

The effect is worst at low effective

permeability, in other words when
the gap is large due to high
current in the inductor.

15
Inductor Core Loss Comparison

Frequency 10 kHz 100 kHz 500 kHz 1 MHz

Ferrite* 1X 1X 1X 1X
MPP 2X 5X 9X 12X
Kool Mµ MAX 2X 5X 10X 15X
Kool Mµ 2X 6X 15X 20X
High Flux 5X 10X 30X 30X

*Excluding fringing losses at the gap. A medium to large

gap on a ferrite center leg may cause total losses that
are dominated by fringing loss.

16
Steinmetz Equation for General Magnetic Loss
a b
Pv = k f B
Pv is core loss density
f is frequency
B is flux density

k, a, and b are constants

a will be between 1 and 2
b will be between 2 and 3

Controlling high frequency losses is unavoidably about controlling AC flux density.

17
Improved High Flux
• Cores with 58+ properties manufactured beginning January 2018
• No change to existing High Flux part numbers

Perm Material Perm vs. DC Bias (Typ.) Core Loss

(Oersteds) (mW/cm3 @ 100 mT, 100 kHz)

80% 50% Typical Limit

58+ 240 425 900 1250
26
Previous 197 385 1800 2500
58+ 101 185 625 900
60
Previous 87 165 900 1600
58+ 53 93 800 1000
125
Previous 43 83 900 1450
 Kool Mµ MAX
• Superior DC Bias performance and lower losses than standard Kool Mµ
• Lower cost compared with MPP and High Flux.

General Information 00 79 050 A7

Permeability 19µ, 26µ, 40µ, 60µ
Core finish code
Alloy Composition Fe/Si/Al
Catalog Number (size)
Saturation Flux Density 1 Tesla Material Code (79 = Kool Mµ MAX)
Curie Temperature 500°C Grading Code

Operating Temperature Range -55 to 200°C

OD Size Range (mm) 13.5 - 134

26µ also available in blocks
Kool Mµ MAX - Performance Comparison

DC Bias at x Ls (Oe) Core Loss (mW/cm3) Cost Ratio

Material (60µ)
80% 50% W100 mT, 50 kHz W100 mT, 100 kHz Price Scale

Kool Mµ® MAX 68 135 190 500 2.0

Kool Mµ® 43 95 210 550 1.0

XFlux® 89 175 680 1550 1.5

High Flux 87 165 350 900 4.0

MPP 60 106 175 450 7.0

Kool Mµ and Kool Mµ MAX alloy - Sendust
Kool Mµ MAX – DC Bias Performance
Kool Mµ MAX – AC Loss Performance
Kool Mµ MAX vs. Kool Mµ - DC Bias
Kool Mµ MAX vs. Kool Mµ - Core Loss

100 kHz
 Dimensions (after finish) Magnetic Data
Size
OD max (mm) ID min (mm) HT max (mm) Wa (mm2) Ae (mm2) Le (mm) Ve (mm3)
050 13.5 6.98 5.52 38.3 10.9 31.2 340
Kool Mµ MAX - Core Sizes
120 17.3 9.52 7.12 71.2 19.2 41.2 791
380 18.1 9.01 7.12 63.8 23.2 41.4 960
206 21.1 12 7.12 114 22.1 50.9 1,120
310 23.7 13.3 8.3 139 31.7 56.7 1,800
350 24.4 13.7 9.66 149 38.8 58.8 2,280
930 27.69 14.1 12 156 65.4 63.5 4,150
548 33.66 19.4 11.5 297 65.6 81.4 5,340
585 35.18 22.5 9.78 399 46.6 89.5 4,150
324 36.71 21.5 11.4 364 67.8 89.8 6,090
254 40.77 23.3 15.4 427 107 98.4 10,600
438 47.63 23.3 19 427 199 107 21,300
089 47.63 27.88 16.2 610 134 116 15,600
715 51.69 30.93 14.4 751 125 127 15,900
195 58.0 25.6 16.2 514 229 125 28,600
109 58.0 34.7 14.9 948 144 143 20,700
620 62.9 31.7 25.9 789 360 144 51,800
740 75.0 44.4 35.9 1,550 497 184 91,400
866 78.9 48.2 13.9 1,820 176 196 34,500
906 78.9 48.2 17.1 1,820 221 196 43,400
102 103.0 55.75 17.9 2,470 358 243 86,900
337 134.0 77.19 26.8 4,710 678 324 220,000
 XFLUX

• 0078xxx-A7 series
• Cost 40-50% less than High Flux
• Applications:
• Low & medium frequency chokes, where
inductance at peak current is critical.
• Where High Flux would be used but cost is a
constraint.
• Where iron powder would be used but iron
powder losses are unacceptably high, or the
design cannot tolerate thermal aging.
 XFlux – 75µ and 90µ
Now available in 050 (13.5mm OD) to 337 (134mm OD) size toroids.
Custom Blending
• Powder blends give intermediate performance for permeability,
saturation, and losses.
• Blending can be useful for:
• Fine tuning a material’s performance
• Decreasing overall cost (in trade for some performance)
• Making a powder better to work with, especially at pressing
• Arriving at a target particle size distribution
75 (Blended) Material
• Customized by customer
and application.
• Target bias, inductance and
loss defined in special
specs.
Thank you!
Planning to attend PCIM 2019? We will be discussing this same topic in the
Exhibitor Forum on Wednesday, 8 May from 14:00-14:20. Hope to see you there!