[Nanjing,on January.28] – As the global push for carbon neutrality accelerates and the electronics industry marches toward high frequency, miniaturization, and energy conservation, traditional magnetic core materials are increasingly struggling to meet evolving application demands. Amorphous nanocrystalline cores, leveraging their unique microstructures and superior comprehensive properties, have emerged as the core component reshaping the landscape of power electronics, new energy, and telecommunications, ushering in a new era of efficient and compact magnetic devices.

Different from conventional crystalline magnetic materials, amorphous nanocrystalline cores feature a microstructure between fully disordered amorphous states and regular crystalline states, combining the high magnetic permeability and low coercivity of amorphous alloys with the high saturation induction and excellent high-frequency performance of nanocrystalline materials. Produced through advanced rapid solidification technology—where molten metal is cooled at a rate of one million degrees Celsius per second to form ultra-thin ribbons—and precise heat treatment processes, these cores achieve uniform nanocrystalline grains with sizes of 10–20 nm, significantly enhancing their magnetic properties.

The technical advantages of amorphous nanocrystalline cores are particularly prominent in performance comparisons with traditional materials. Their maximum permeability at 10 kHz ranges from 50,000 to 100,000, far exceeding that of ferrite (15,000); the saturation induction reaches 1.2 Tesla, double that of ferrite (0.4 Tesla); and the core loss at 100 kHz and 0.2 T is only 20–35 W/kg, merely 1/3 to 1/6 of ferrite's 120 W/kg. Additionally, they boast excellent temperature stability, with a Curie temperature of 550–570°C and a maximum continuous operating temperature of 150°C, adapting to harsh working environments such as automotive electronics and industrial power supplies.

These outstanding properties enable amorphous nanocrystalline cores to be widely used in key fields driving global technological progress. In the new energy sector, they are applied to LCL filter units of photovoltaic inverters, attenuating switching frequency harmonics by more than 80 dB and improving system efficiency by 2–3 percentage points; in new energy vehicles, they are used in OBC and drive motors, increasing charging efficiency to 96%, shortening charging time by 20%, and reducing motor iron loss by 60%. In the telecommunications field, they play a key role in 5G base stations and Ka-band satellite communication equipment, controlling insertion loss within 0.5 dB and improving signal transmission stability by 50%. They are also widely used in common mode chokes, current transformers, wireless charging receivers, and precision sensors, providing core support for product upgrading and efficiency improvement in related industries.

Market data shows that the global amorphous nanocrystalline core market has maintained steady growth in recent years, with a market size increasing from approximately 12.3 billion US dollars in 2020 to 21.6 billion US dollars in 2025, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.8%. Asia-Pacific, especially China, has become the core growth driver. As the world's largest producer of amorphous ribbons, China has formed a complete industrial chain from raw material preparation and ribbon production to core processing and terminal applications, with the domestic market size expected to exceed 85 billion yuan in 2025 and account for more than 40% of the global market in the world.

From Alvin Zhu

E-mail:alvin.zhu@evergrowrs.com