J. Mater. Eng.

(1990) 12:51-57

9 1990 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Material Usage in Stacked Transformer

Cores
K.C.

Lin,

E.E.

Zook,

and

J.W.

Crockett

Abstract.
There are core materials which are strong in anisotropy and others that are weak.
The strong anisotropic materials, grain oriented silicon steels, are suitable for miter joint
cores, while the weak anisotropic materials, including wrought iron, nongrain oriented silicon
steels, and amorphous metal, are suitable for the H-I plate core, the E-I plate core, the Lplate core, and the I-plate core. The traditional core designs were developed when operating
transformers at high inductions. However, the current trend is to achieve low loss at lower
inductions. Core losses improve as steel gauges decrease and grades improve. Lamination
geometries greatly affect core compactness and core "performance.

INTRODUCTION
A transformer core is used to transfer energy from the
primary to the secondary winding. When a voltage is
applied to the primary winding, a current flows through
the winding. Current flowing in the winding produces
a magnetic field in the core, which transfers energy
from the primary winding to the secondary winding.
During the transfer of energy, there is a loss in the
core due to the core joints, core construction, and the
material itself hindering the movement of the magnetic field.
It is desirable to minimize this energy loss by
adopting a high efficiency core structure and optimizing the use o f core material. This paper discusses
details of the core structure application for the proper
material and optimizing the use of material to improve core performance.
CORE STRUCTURES

Various core structures are available for stacked core

transformers today. They are the H-I plate core, the
E-I plate core, the L-plate core, the I-plate core, the
mitered butt lap core, and the mitered step lap core
(Fig. 1). These cores were developed for the material
available for usage at the time, including wrought iron,
nongrain oriented silicon steel, grain oriented silicon
steel, and amorphous metal. The selection of the core
The authors are with Materials & Manufacturing Technology
ABB Power T & D Company, 469 Sharpsville Ave., Sharon, PA
16146, USA.

structure depends upon material characteristics and core

manufacturing cost.
Material Characteristics

Figure 2 illustrates that grain oriented silicon steel

(Hipersil), which has strong anisotropic characteristics, had higher losses at all inductions when the sheet
sample was tested in a cross-grain direction rather than
in a parallel one. (Testing directions are illustrated in
Figure 3.) The higher loss in one direction o v e r the
other reflects that the loss o f a core will be high if the
magnetic field flows across the rolling direction. On
the contrary, the loss deviation was very small w h e n
testing amorphous metal in two directions (Fig. 4).
The small deviation when testing in two directions
shows the weaker anisotropy of amorphous metal
compared to grain oriented silicon steel.
The H-I plate core, the E-I core, the L-plate core,
and the 1-plate core require field crossing at the joints.
These cores are more suitable for a weak anisotropic
material, such as wrought iron, nongrain oriented silicon steel, and amorphous metal than for the strong
anisotropic material, grain oriented silicon steel. T h e
mitered cores were developed for the strong anisotropic material, grain oriented silicon steel, to provide
an easy path for the magnetic field. Table 1 lists the
performance of a three-phase 1-plate corelet and a threephase mitered butt lap corelet built with grain oriented
silicon steel and amorphous metal P O W E R C O R E T M
strip. The P O W E R C O R E T M strip was not significantly affected by the core structure performance as
the grain oriented silicon steel was.

J. Materials Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1990 9 51

S t a c k e d T r a n s f o r m e r C o r e Materials

K . C . L i n et ai.

Manufacturing

E-I P l a t e Core

H-I Plate Core

Cost

A t r a n s f o r m e r c o r e s h o u l d b e m a n u f a c t u r e d at a l o w
cost. T o m a n u f a c t u r e a c o r e , it is n e c e s s a r y to fabricate core laminations for core stacking. The H - I plate
core, the E-I p l a t e c o r e , a n d the L - p l a t e c o r e r e q u i r e
high cost t o o l i n g a n d c r e a t e a h i g h p e r c e n t a g e o f scrap
m a t e r i a l f r o m c u t t i n g H , o r E, o r L s h a p e d l a m i n a tions. T h e s e c o r e s are o n l y u s e d for s m a l l size c o r e s
o f fractional k V A ratings o r f o r h i g h f r e q u e n c y transformers. A n I - p l a t e c o r e is a s s e m b l e d f r o m square cut
l a m i n a t i o n s w i t h o u t c r e a t i n g a n y scrap in l a m i n a t i o n
fabrication. T h e I - p l a t e c o r e is v e r y suitable for high
k V A rating t r a n s f o r m e r s . A m i t e r e d c o r e is a s s e m b l e d
f r o m m i t e r cut l a m i n a t i o n s . T h e r e is not m u c h scrap
in fabricating m i t e r l a m i n a t i o n s other than w h e r e a V notch is n e e d e d at the m i d d l e o f y o k e l a m i n a t i o n s to
a c c o m m o d a t e the s p e a r h e a d o f the c e n t e r leg l a m i nations a n d the e n d o f the s p e a r h e a d l a m i n a t i o n s .
A core can b e s t a c k e d f a s t e r using H - I or E - I l a m inations rather than s t a c k i n g s q u a r e cut l a m i n a t i o n s o r
m i t e r cut l a m i n a t i o n s o n e at a t i m e . A n I - p l a t e c o r e
can b e m a n u a l l y a s s e m b l e d f a s t e r than a m i t e r e d c o r e
if l a m i n a t i o n s are s t a c k e d o n e at a time. H o w e v e r , a
m i t e r e d core u s i n g g r o u p s o f l a m i n a t i o n s can b e assembled very e c o n o m i c a l l y b y manual stacking. Since
an I-plate c o r e has to b e s t a c k e d one l a m i n a t i o n at a
t i m e , m a c h i n e s t a c k i n g o f e i t h e r I - p l a t e o r m i t e r e d cut
cores can b e e c o n o m i c a l l y d o n e .

L - P l a t e Core

I-Plate Core

MATERIAL

Miter Core

GAUGE

AND

GRADE

A core can b e s t a c k e d w i t h v a r i o u s g a u g e s o f m a t e r i a l
f r o m the 14 m i l ( M - 6 ) to the c u r r e n t l y a v a i l a b l e 7 m i l

Fig. 1. Various core structures. (Each core is processed

from various shapes of core laminations.)

CROSS GRAIN COMPARISON

1.62

--4)-t~m,

1.,52 ~

1 , - , m , m s L x 7 Ammm /j_~)q..56 W~ Ib

.-41- 4 ~ ~m. 11 ill R x

4 Pitdlr

_'D 1.4.2

1.32

~ ~"

1.22

t*"

t~ 1 . 1 2
0
.-I

O'-

1.02
.92

.82

tJ

.72

.62

~---

.52

.4.2

a..32
I/1

'e'"~

e"

""

p . . . . . . 4 ..__r _ . 4 ~ ' ;

.22

-''q
8

10

11

12

13

INDUCTION (kG)

52

9 J. Materials Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1990

14

15

Fig. 2. Core loss of Hipersil strip tested in two

directions.

K.C. Lin et ai.

9 Stacked Transformer Core Materials

Rolling Direction

Test Direction

~P4K

o
4J

Test Direction

Fig. 3. Directions of testing.

the loss improves. Therefore, assuming the manufacturing cost is the same, selection o f the material can
be based on the value of each material. This value is
estimated relative to the performance o f one particular
selective material, such as 11 mil regular grain oriented silicon steel, based on the cost per unit o f improved performance. The unit of power consumption
is kilowatts, and therefore the value of each improved
material is estimated in dollars per kilowatt ( $ / k W ) .
The lower the $ / k W value, the greater the material
value is in a transformer. The thick material is very
attractive at high inductions. However, the thin gauge
material becomes attractive at lower inductions because o f lower value of $ / k W at lower inductions.

(M-2) grain oriented silicon steel. The loss improves

as the gauge decreases due to the reduction of eddy
current loss.
A stack o f 10 in. laminations can be built with approximately 714 pieces of 14 mil material, but requires 1,111 pieces of 9 mil material. It is more time
consuming to process a core using a thinner gauge
material rather than a thicker material. Extra pieces
of lamination in a stack require extra effort in lamination fabrication and core stacking.
The material also improves as the grade changes
from regular grain oriented silicon steel to high permeability grain oriented silicon steel, and to domain
refined silicon steel. The material cost increases as
CROSS

.2

COMPARISON

-41~.. 4 t L ~ l o ~ X 7 U m m
9-.l~- 4 In. wl~ I~EIII~I~ X 4 Parakl

.19
J3 .18

GRAIN

.17

.16
la .15
IR
o .14

.-I
0

I
J,

.13o w,

.13

.c12e w/In

.12

.11
.1
~__ .09
u
e .08
Q" .07
1/I
.06

....'~

.05

10

11

INDUCTION

12

13

(kG)

14

15

Fig. 4. Core loss of amorphous metal POWERstrip tested in two directions.

C O R E TM

J. Materials Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1990 9 53

K . C . Lin et al.

Stacked T r a n s f o r m e r Core Materials

Table 1. Losses of Three-Phase I-Plate Corelet And

the first cost of a transformer and the cost of supply-

Three-Phase Mitered Butt Lap Corelet, W / l b

ing the transformer losses for the life o f the unit.

The first cost includes the cost of purchasing a
transformer plus the cost o f maintenance, warranty,
installation cost, etc. The cost o f supplying the transformer losses includes losses f r o m no load and load.
The material price such as the cost of coil conductor,
core steel, and tank, and the labor cost involved in
manufacturing the transformer dominate the first cost.
The grade and quality of steel used in the core affect
the no load losses, and aluminum and copper conductors used in the coil design affect the load losses.
A geometric program is used to optimize the evaluation. It is possible to assume that the use of the
lower loss, higher cost steels would result in a favorable economical calculation. However, for the very
low loss low induction designs, it was found that in
a certain range of no load $ / k W evaluation the low
loss steels performed no better than lower cost high
loss steels. [5]
Figure 5 illustrates cost ratios of core material " B "
designs to core material "A" designs for a certain kVA
rating transformer. I f the ratio is greater than one, the
material "B" design is more costly; less than one, it
is more favorable. The first cost is higher for the unit
built with material " B " than with material " A , " but
the loss cost is less. As a result, the total owning cost
is greater for the unit built with material " B " at the
lower $ / k W loss evaluation. The total owning cost
declines as the $ / k W loss evaluation increases. The
$ / k W loss evaluation where both are equal is the breakeven point; either material can be used for the core
design at this point. Transformer cores designed to
operate at low inductions using lower loss material
also require more laminations to achieve low iron loss
at low inductions.

Induction, Tesla
1.2
7 nail RGO Silicon Steel
I-plate
0.282
Mitered butt lap
0.221
Loss increase
0.061
8 Ply POWERCORE Strip
I-plate
0.123
Mitered butt lap
0.123
Loss increase
0

1.3

1.4

0.322
0.259
0.063

0.368
0.303
0.065

0.142
0.140
0.002

0.164
0.161
0.003

A m o r p h o u s metal is attractive if the price of the material is less than $1.50 per pound. [1]
A core can be assembled by mixing grades or gauges
o f steel. A.J. Moses et al. reported that the perform a n c e of a high permeability silicon steel core can be
improved by placing the low permeability regular grain
oriented steel in the center leg o f the high permeability silicon steel core. [2] A core can also be assembled by mixing gauges o f steel if a split core
structure is implemented. [3] The success of using
material mixing depends upon economic justification.
The material application should consider improved
performance versus material cost and the additional
cost of handling different materials in a core. While
the mixing of material can be advantageous, under no
circumstances should high permeability nondomain
refined material be mixed with high permeability domain refined material. The mixing o f as little as 10%
o f nondomain refined material into domain refined
material can significantly increase the core loss of the
finished transformers. [4]
In addition to grain oriented silicon steel, there is
a 20 mil (M-36) nongrain oriented silicon steel for
nonmitered cores. The use of a heavier gauge material
will not improve core performance, but facilitates core
stacking.
LOSS EVALUATION
Previously, because o f economic reasons, a core was
designed to operate at higher inductions. High permeability grain oriented silicon steel was developed
successfully for this need. However, the trend has been
reversed f r o m a high efficiency at high inductions to
a low loss at lower inductions, because o f the initiation o f loss evaluation.
The evaluated price o f a transformer, which is used
to determine the lowest total owning cost, consists of

54

9 J. Materials Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1990

CORE COMPACTNESS
Space Factor--Insulation

Coating

It is desirable to have a compact core which is assembled from laminated steel sheets. An insulation coating is needed at the surface o f each lamination sheet
to reduce the interlaminar loss. The interlaminar loss
is an energy loss which occurs between core laminations. The nominal thickness of electrical steel ranges
from 7 through 14 rail. The insulation coating is approximately 2 mil total. The space factor o f a lamination stack is approximately 96.3% for 7 mil, 96.9%
for 11 mil, and 97.3% for 14 mil insulation coated
steels. The lower the space factor in the lamination
stack, the less steel is in a fixed volume to carry the
magnetic flux. The space factor is determined from

K . C . L i n et al.

Stacked Transformer

Core Materials

F i g . 5. Cost ratios of material "B" designs to material "A" designs.

the ratio of the actual weight of a lamination stack to

the calculated weight o f the stack.
Geometric

Excellence

To achieve core compactness, it is necessary to have

geometric excellence for each core lamination so that
the cross section along each stacked core component
will be identical.
Factors affecting lamination geometry are width and
thickness tolerance, burrs along strip edges, camber
along strip length, strip flatness, and lamination fabrication accuracy. Figure 6 exhibits the cross section
of a lamination stack in a trapezoid due to uneven
thickness across the width. Figure 7 exhibits a burr
formed along the sheared lamination edge. Burrs could
affect core compactness and cause shorts layer-to-layer
resulting in higher interlaminar loss. Figure 8 illustrates a w a v y core component due to assembling a
core with a w a v y thin gauge material.
Generally silicon steel, which is processed by rolling, is rigid, flat, comparatively ductile, and has minimum width and thickness variation. On the other hand,
amorphous metal is processed by rapid quenching. This
material is comparatively flimsy, wavy, brittle, and
has significant dimensional variations.

Figure 9 exhibits upended E-shaped silicon steel

cores ready for dropping coils onto the legs and for
assembling the top yokes. Each core leg with lock
plates stands by itself without any additional physical
support and encapsulation. Contrasted to the silicon
steel core, an amorphous metal core requires substantial core support for rigidity and for resisting ex-

Fig. 6. Cross section of a lamination stack in a trapezoid.

J. Materials Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1990

9 55

K . C . Lin et al.

Stacked T r a n s f o r m e r C o r e Materials

Fig. 7. Burr formed along the sheared lamination edge. (270X)

Fig. 8. Wavy core component.

56

9 J. Materials Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1990

K . C . L i n et al.

Stacked Transformer Core Materials

others are weak. Miter cores are suitable for very anisotropic materials. H-plate cores, E-plate cores, Lplate cores, or I-plate cores are for less anisotropic
materials.
The material gauges and grades affect core performance and manufacturing cost. Once a core was designed to operate at high inductions. However, the
current trend is to achieve lower loss at low inductions. The improvement in material geometries and
the quality o f insulation coating will result in better
core compactness and improve core performance.

REFERENCES

Fig. 9. Upended E-shaped silicon steel core.

ternal forces. The core also requires encapsulation to

prevent any metal chips from falling into the coils.
CONCLUSIONS
The economic usage of a material in stacked cores
depends upon the material's characteristics. There are
some materials which are strong in anisotropy while

1. K.C. Lin and E.E. Zook, "A Desirable Material for

Transformer Cores," Journal of Materials Engineering,
11 pp. 117-121, 1989, Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
2. A.J. Moses and S. Hamadeh, "Effects of Mixing Materials on Losses and Cost of Operation of Three Phase
Transformer Cores," 3M Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 1988.
3. U.S. Patent No. 4, 205, 288.
4. A.L. Von Holle and J. Schoen, "Simulated Performance of Stacked Transformer Core Containing Both
Laser-Scribed and Non-Scribed 9 Mil High Permeability
Grain Oriented Silicon Steel," Fifth Annual Conference
on Properties and Application of Magnetic Materials,
Chicago, May 28-29, 1986.
5. J.W. Crockett, "Loss Evaluation and Design Optimization," Transformer Engineering Manufacturing Engineering, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, September, 1978.

J. Materials Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1990

9 57