Developments towards Electromobility and the Role of E-steel
Bond voor Materialenkennis & Bosch Transmission Technology B.V.
Location: Bosch Transmission Technology B.V. (Tilburg)
Date: 9 October 2025
Full Programme (Pdf file)
Within an extensive industrial innovation program, Bosch Transmission Technology (Tilburg), now also known as Bosch Thin Metal Technologies, is working on advanced thin metal components. These innovations are essential for the future of mobility and energy. Building on decades of experience as a market leader in CVT push belts, Bosch is now applying its expertise to components for electric motors and electrolyzers. The EU industry is continuously transforming, and Bosch’s combined experience and technological superiority play a decisive role in this process.
Programme
- Welcome by Lili Crebolder-Van Vugt (Group Leader Materials Science, Bosch B.V. & Board member BvM)
- Introduction by Emile Kruijswijk (Bosch B.V.)
- Processing of electrical steel laminations to improve the magnetic properties of rotor and stator stacks for e-motors for electrified vehicles – by Bert Pennings (Research Engineer, Bosch B.V.)
- Theory and Practice of Non-Oriented Electrical Steels – by Leo Kestens (Professor Metal Science & Technology, UGent / TU Delft)
- Optimal Electrical Sheet Selection for Electrical Machines – An Overview of the Opportunities in Iron Loss Modeling and Material Design – by Nora Leuning (Junior Professor, RWTH Aachen)
- Plant tour Bosch Transmission Technology B.V.
- and ample time for networking….
Registration
Participation is free, registration is required (limited places are available). Please mention, upon registration, if you wish to join for lunch (optional).
ABSTRACTS
Nora Luening (Junior Professor, RWTH Aachen University) – Optimal Electrical Sheet Selection for Electrical Machines- An Overview of the Opportunities in Iron Loss Modeling and Material Design
The efficiency and power density of electrical machines are largely dependent on the materials used in the magnetic circuit. The selection of the most suitable materials for each specific application, along with improvements in material properties, is essential to minimize remagnetization losses and meet the increasing demands for efficiency and power density. Non-grain-oriented electrical steel is commonly used in the magnetic circuit to guide and enhance the magnetic flux, thereby optimizing the operating characteristics of rotating electrical machines. By gaining a deeper understanding of material properties, their parameters, and their interactions, the full potential of the material can be leveraged during the design and dimensioning of the machines.
This presentation highlights how tailor-made material design or optimized material selection can be achieved by specifying the desired structural material parameters through measurements and modeling.
Short bio
Nora Leuning is a Junior Professor for ‘Soft Magnetic Materials for Applications in Electrical Machines’ at RWTH Aachen University, since 2022. She received her M.Sc. in Materials Engineering in 2015, followed by a PhD in Electrical Engineering with summa cum laude honors in 2020. Her research focuses on the understanding, investigation, and modeling of soft magnetic materials. In particular, she explores the influence of various structural parameters and property development during production, the impact of processing and operation on material properties, as well as the modeling and incorporation of these effects into the design and simulation of electrical machines.
Bert Pennings (Research Engineer, Bosch) – Processing of electrical steel laminations to improve the magnetic properties of rotor and stator stacks for e-motors for electrified vehicles
At Bosch Thin Metal Technologies rotor and stator stacks are produced for e-motors for electrified vehicles. Non-grain oriented (NO) electrical steel is used to manufacture the individual rotor and stator laminations. This NO electrical steel belongs to the class of soft magnetic materials featured by relatively low iron losses, high magnetic permeability and high saturation magnetization. In order to fully utilize these properties on e-motor level the lamination manufacturing process can be optimized by including a dedicated annealing heat treatment in combination with an alternative lamination bonding process. This alternative process chain will be presented and discussed.
Leo Kestens (Professor Metal Science & Technology, UGent / TU Delft) – Theory and Practice of Non-Oriented Electrical Steels
Electrical steel (E-steel) is a Fe-Si alloy and the material of choice for electromagnetic flux carriers in a wide variety of electromagnetic devices, such as electrical engines in e-drives. These steels are among the most advanced engineered grades of low-carbon steel and combine several magnetic properties typical of soft magnetic materials: (i) high relative permeability to yield the highest possible magnetic induction for a given magnetic field strength, (ii) minimum magnetic core losses, (iii) low coercive field strength, and (iv) low remanent induction. For e-drive applications operating at high frequencies, increased mechanical strength is also required.
Although E-steel does not provide the best soft-magnetic properties available on the market, it is by far the material of choice as it can be produced at a comparatively low cost in very large quantities, which is essential for meeting current industrial needs (with annual production at approximately 20 million metric tonnes and steadily growing at a rate of 3 to 5% per year). The highly streamlined, cost-effective processing lines for low-carbon steel sheets can be tweaked and fine-tuned to optimise the magnetic properties of E-steel.
This presentation will provide an overview of the crucial microstructural control aspects for E-steel manufacturing, including grain size, crystallographic texture, and second phase particles.
Short bio
Leo Kestens earned his Master’s in Applied Physics from Ghent University in 1987 and completed a PhD on crystallographic textures in electrical steels at KU Leuven in 1994. He continued research in steel metallurgy as a postdoc at McGill University and CRM in Belgium. In 1998, he returned to Ghent University to lead a research group on metal science, later chairing Microstructure Control in Metals at TU Delft from 2005. Since 2009, he has headed Ghent’s Metal Science & Technology group while also serving as a part-time guest professor at TU Delft.
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