If you are just trying to determine if it is M-6 grain oriented steel, a simple test can tell you. Wind a few dozen turns on the core, close the air gap (with a clamp or vise if necessary), then use a Variac xfmr and a low voltage 6.3 VAC xfmr to apply variable low voltage AC to the winding and observe the current waveform on a scope (use .1 Ohm series current sense resistor or an AC current probe).
Ramp the AC voltage up from zero till things start humming noticeably to get an idea of the voltage range to test. The current wave form for grain oriented steel will start as a sine wave at very low volts, then change to a square wave at more volts, then develop a spike at the end of the square wave. For non-oriented steel you will see the sine wave current at very low V, then a triangle wave, then a current spike develops at the peak of the triangle at high V.
Don
Ramp the AC voltage up from zero till things start humming noticeably to get an idea of the voltage range to test. The current wave form for grain oriented steel will start as a sine wave at very low volts, then change to a square wave at more volts, then develop a spike at the end of the square wave. For non-oriented steel you will see the sine wave current at very low V, then a triangle wave, then a current spike develops at the peak of the triangle at high V.
Don
Grain oriented steel is generally the same or similar silicon steel as the non-oriented type. The grain orientation comes from a sheet metal rolling process used to get the crystal grains elongated in the rolling direction, which gives improved magnetic properties.
Most of the properties of interest to someone using xfmr steel can be measured easily with a test winding and Variac setup and geometrical core dimensions (area and path length). ie: Saturation Bsat, permeability Mu, volts per turn, core loss, hysteresis curve, remanance ....
Most of the properties of interest to someone using xfmr steel can be measured easily with a test winding and Variac setup and geometrical core dimensions (area and path length). ie: Saturation Bsat, permeability Mu, volts per turn, core loss, hysteresis curve, remanance ....
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