Electrical steel vs Ferrite
Electrical steel and Ferrite are genuine alternatives to one another — a choice somebody actually makes — and differ on 2 measured properties, density most clearly.
Electrical steel vs Ferrite
These are different kinds of thing (alloy, material). Fewer properties mean the same thing across both, so a like-for-like reading may not be available.
Electrical steel
Iron with three per cent silicon, rolled into a sheet whose crystals all point the same way — the material every transformer and every motor is built around.
Ferrite
A magnetic ceramic that barely conducts — which is why it works at frequencies no metal can, and why most of the magnets in the world are made of it.
| Property | Electrical steel | Ferrite |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal system Only one of the two has a figure we can stand behind, so there is nothing to compare. | Not known | cubic |
| Density | 7.6–7.7 g/cm³ higher | 4.8–5.1 g/cm³ |
| Electrical conductivity | 2–2.5 MS/m higher | 1e-7–0.001 MS/m |
| Melting point Only one of the two has a figure we can stand behind, so there is nothing to compare. | 1480–1520 °C | Not known |
| Mohs hardness Only one of the two has a figure we can stand behind, so there is nothing to compare. | Not known | 5–6 |
Choosing between them
Electrical steel is recorded as a substitute for Ferrite — stronger.
What it gives up: It conducts, so eddy currents rise with the square of frequency and no lamination is thin enough above about twenty kilohertz — steel is the answer at mains frequency and ferrite everywhere faster.
In this application, on the evidence cited above.