Pole pieces for magnetic resonance imaging systems

A magnetic pole piece for a MRI system, said pole piece comprising a stack of a plurality of sheets of an alloy that comprises iron and aluminum, said sheets being laminated together, each of said sheet being formed in a process comprising:

• forging a block of said alloy at a temperature in a range from about 1000° C. to about 1300° C. to produce a forged alloy;
• hot rolling said forged alloy at a temperature of about 1300° C. to produce a hot-rolled body;
• and
• cold rolling said hot-rolled body using a thickness reduction increment from about 10 percent to about 50 percent to produce said sheet.

A process for making sheets of a magnetic alloy comprising iron and aluminum, said process comprising:

• forging a block of said alloy at a temperature in a range from about 1000° C. to about 1300° C. to produce a forged alloy;
• hot rolling said forged alloy at a temperature of about 1300° C. to produce a hot-rolled body;
• and
• cold rolling said hot-rolled body using a thickness reduction increment from about 10 percent to about 50 percent to produce said sheet.