This paper deals with the reduction of friction torque in permanent magnet motors by using the heat treatment of stator core. The stator core is made of electrical steel sheared by the punching die. From the punching process, large mechanical stress acting on the edge of stator tooth induces significant plastic and elastic deformation and then cause the change of magnetization properties. Then, the mechanical and magnetic unbalance in the sheared region of stator tooth produced by material cutting has influence on the friction torque. This paper investigated the effect of the punching process on the magnetization process and the mechanical deformation, and then proposed the stress relief annealing method for the reduction of friction torque among one of motor characteristics.