There is growing interest in power inductors in which metal soft magnetic powder and epoxy resin are combined. In this field, the process technology for increasing the packing density of magnetic particles in an injection molding process is very important. However, little research has been reported in this regard. In order to improve the packing density, we investigated and compared the sedimentation heights of pastes for three types of soft magnetic alloy powders as a function of the mixing ratios and the type of resin used. Experimental results showed that the packing density was the highest (71.74%) when the mixing ratio was 80:16:4 (Sendust:Fe-Si:CIP) according to the particle size using an SE-4125 resin. In addition, the packing density was found to be inversely related to the layer separation distance. As a result, it was confirmed that the dispersion of solid particles in the paste was important for curing; however, the duration of the curing process can greatly affect the packing density of the final composite.
With high integration of electronic components, power inductors are also miniaturized. Recently, thick film processes for small size power inductors were developed and commercialized. However, the thick film process to prepare soft magnetic green sheets was not reported enough. In this study, we used Fe-Si magnetic and CIP (carbonyl iron powders) as starting materials to lead to a bimodal particle size distribution in the sheet. We proposed a newly developed ‘Modified slurry preparation process’ to get well dispersed condition even at high solid contents. Using the new process, it was possible to prepare a well dispersed slurry over 70 vol% of solid. BYK-103 was better than BYK-111 as dispersant in this slurry and the optimum amount was 0.6 wt%. The optimized slurry was formed into a sheet by tape casting process and then the sheet was laminated. We conformed that small size powder, large size powder, and epoxy resin were well dispersed in the green sheet.