Re:Copper clad on 416 steel

[fastfred]

We have a torquer ring that goes in a vertical displacement gyro unit, the ring is made of 416 steel with a copper clad that is plasma sprayed on the front surface. the ring is a left/right directional type that is driven by the torque coil magnetic field. My first question is, What is the purpose of the copper cladding on the ring and the next question is that we now have some rings that do not have the magnetic properties (very weak) that previous rings had, some how the vendor has changed the process or material, can anyone that give me insite on what is going on?

 

[sreid]

When ever I see a device using a coil and iron to produce force I think of "Solenoid Action" where the iron is trying to find the lowest reluctance position. The force produced is a function of the iron's permiability. A crude way to check this is to see how strongly the iron is attracted to a permanent magnet. Compare and old ring to a new ring.

The copper clading (especially if reasonably thick) could be used for eddy current damping.