Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (GOES)
Arnold Magnetic Technologies Rolled Products Division has been producing thin Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (GOES) for over 50 years. Arnold Grain Oriented Silicon Steel is a 3% silicon steel which is processed under carefully controlled conditions. All Arnold silicon steel products are DFARS compliant. Arnold produces GOES from several different grades of Silicon steel, all of which are produced in the USA. This steel is purchased in a “pickled” condition which allows Arnold to roll it to the thinner gauges. Once it has been rolled and undergone further processing the material receives an insulating coating. This coating will ultimately insulate the layers of this material which will keep eddy current losses to a minimum. Arnold material is sold in coil form and slit to the width that the customer orders, from 1/32” to 16.0”
Arnold produces GOES in thicknesses of .001” (0.025mm), .002” (0.05mm), .004” (0.10mm) and .006” (0.15mm) and we can provide slit widths from 0.03125” (0.794mm) to 16.0” (406.4mm).
These materials are primarily used for various types of cores for use in transformers and chokes and inductors. These cores are typically produced as a “C” core, “E” core or Toroid core. The .006” and .004” thickness are generally for frequencies below 1 Khz and the .001” and .002” are for higher frequencies.
Benefits and Advantages
The GOES is typically used in a wound core so as to take advantage of the grain orientation. If used in a stamped lamination, the oriented material would not perform as well as non oriented material due to the directional nature of the magnetics. There is no advantage to using thin gauge if the frequency is low. As the frequency increases, the losses due to eddy currents increase and by going to thinner materials this is minimized. Eddy current losses coupled with the hysteresis losses gives the overall core loss. By keeping core loss to a minimum, the heat buildup is minimized and the device does not over heat.
Capabilities Information
