Fe-Co-B Soft Magnetic Ribbons: Crystallization Process, Microstructure and Coercivity

In this work, a detailed microstructural investigation of as-melt-spun and heat-treated Fe67Co20B13 ribbons was performed. The as-melt-spun ribbon was predominantly amorphous at room temperature. Subsequent heating demonstrated an amorphous to crystalline α-(Fe,Co) phase transition at 403 °C. In situ transmission electron microscopy observations, carried out at the temperature range of 25–500 °C and with the heating rate of 200 °C/min, showed that the first crystallized nuclei appeared at a temperature close to 370 °C. With a further increase of temperature, the volume of α-(Fe,Co) crystallites considerably increased. Moreover, the results showed that a heating rate of 200 °C/min provides for a fine and homogenous microstructure with the α-(Fe,Co) crystallites size three times smaller than when the ribbon is heated at 20 °C/min. The next step of this research concerned the influence of both the annealing time and temperature on the microstructure and coercivity of the ribbons. It was shown that annealing at 485 °C for a shorter time (2 s) led to materials with homogenous distribution of α-(Fe,Co) crystallites with a mean size of 30 nm dispersed in the residual amorphous matrix. This was reflected in the coercivity (20.5 A/m), which significantly depended on the volume fraction of crystallites, their size, and distribution.

Correlation between structure and magnetic properties of “finemet” type microwires

Effect of geometrical parameters (metallic core diameter, glass cover thickness) on the structure and magnetic properties of glass-coated Fe-Si-B-Nb-Cu microwires is investigated. The structure of as-prepared Fe73.8Cu1Nb3.1Si13B9.1 microwire is nanocrystalline, consisting of α-Fe(Si) crystallites in a residual amorphous matrix. It is shown that great residual stresses arising at the manufacturing processes greatly influence the microstresses and crystallite sizes of α-Fe(Si) crystals. An increasing of stress magnitude results to structure refinement. The size of α-Fe(Si) crystals and crystallized volume fraction decrease from approximately 105 nm and 71 % to 9 nm and 34 %, respectively, with glass cover thickness increasing. Grain size refinement of α-Fe(Si) leads to the considerable decrease of coercivity of microwires from 1800 A/m to 160 A/m.

EFFECT OF ANNEALING AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES ON THE STRUCTURE AND HARDNESS OF AL85Y8NI5CO2 ALLOY AMORPHOUS STRIPS

Aluminum-based metallic glasses are the new promising family of materials. However, the effect of heat treatment on the structure and properties of Al–Y–Ni–Co amorphous alloys has not been widely studied so far. In this paper, Al85Y8Ni5Co2 amorphous alloy strips were obtained by hardening on a rotary copper wheel. The effect of vacuum annealing at temperatures ranging from 100 to 500 °C for 30 minutes on the structure and hardness of these strips was investigated. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry were used to study changes in the structure of strips after heat treatment. Vickers microhardness was measured to investigate the effect of annealing on the mechanical properties of strips. The results obtained allowed for the conclusions made about changes in hardness depending on the Al85Y8Ni5Co2 alloy strip structure. It was found that as the temperature rises, strip microhardness increases reaching a maximum value of 575±7 HV after annealing at 350 °C, then it decreases with a further increase in the annealing temperature. It was shown that the Al85Y8Ni5Co2 alloy strips remain completely amorphous and no crystalline phases are detected in their structures after annealing at temperatures up to 250 °C for 30 minutes. A sharp increase in hardness after annealing at 350 °C is associated with 10–30 nm nanocrystals of an aluminum solid solution formed in the amorphous matrix and surrounded by a residual amorphous matrix, while further hardness decrease is associated with the increasing sizes of these crystals and Al3Y and Al19Ni5Y3 intermetallics formed in the structure.

Crystallization behavior of Zr62Al8Ni13Cu17 Metallic Glass

The crystallization behavior has been studied in Zr62Al8Ni13Cu17metallic glass alloy. The Zr62Al8Ni13Cu17metallic glass crystallized through two steps. The fcc Zr2Ni phase transformed from the amorphous matrix during first crystallization and then the Zr2Ni and residual amorphous matrix transformed into a mixture of tetragonal Zr2Cu and hexagonal Zr6Al2Ni phases. Johnson-Mehl-Avrami analysis of isothermal transformation data suggested that the formation of crystalline phase is primary crystallization by diffusion-controlled growth.

Effects of Co, Ni, and Cr addition on microstructure and magnetic properties of amorphous and nanocrystalline Fe86−xMxZr7Nb2Cu1B4 (M = Co, Ni, CoCr, and Cr, x = 0 or 6) alloys

Mössbauer spectra and thermomagnetic curves for the Fe86−xMxZr7Nb2Cu1B4 (M = Co, Ni, CoCr, and Cr, x = 0 or 6) alloys in the as-quenched state and after the accumulative annealing in the temperature range 600–800 K for 10 min are investigated. The parent Fe86Zr7Nb2Cu1B4 amorphous alloy is paramagnetic at room temperature, and substitution of 6 at.% of Fe by Co, Ni, and CoCr changes the magnetic structure – the alloys become ferromagnetic, whereas replacing 6 at.% of Fe with Cr preserves the paramagnetic state. After the heat treatment at 600 K, the decrease of the average hyperfine field induction, as compared to the as-quenched state, is observed due to the invar effect. After this annealing, the Curie temperature for all investigated alloys decreases. The accumulative annealing up to 800 K leads to the partial crystallization; α-Fe or α-FeCo grains with diameters in the range of 12–30 nm in the residual amorphous matrix appear.

The precipitation of nanocrystalline structure in the joule heated Fe72Al5Ga2P11C6B4 metallic glasses

In this study, the evolution of the nanostructure on dc Joule heated Fe72Al5Ga2P11C6B4 metallic glass ribbons have been investigated. Heating power per square area (PS) was ranging between 0.8 to 7.1 W/cm2 in order to get various stages of relaxation or nanocrystallization. The crystallization starts after applying PS ? 4.35 W/cm2 and the sample consist of residual amorphous matrix, a magnetic crystalline component and also a non-magnetic crystalline component (relative abundance of Fe in the crystalline phase is about 35 %). XRD measurements show that crystalline samples after current annealing consist of Fe3B, FeC, FeP and Fe3P compounds. On TEM micrograph a broad distribution of shapes and sizes is noticed, the latter range from about 60 to 350 nm, increasing by applied heating power. The decrease of the electrical resistivity after each current annealing treatment is rather small in comparison with other Fe-based amorphous alloys (only about 1.5 % for the highest PS). Partial nanocrystallization leads to increase of coercive field (from HC ? 7 A/m in the amorphous as-cast state up to 45 A/m) attributed to precipitation of magnetically harder compounds (Fe3B and FeC).

Influence of Oxygen Contamination on Magnetic Properties of Amorphous and Nanocrystallized FeCuSiNbB Thin Films

Thin films of amorphous FeCuSiNbB alloy have been deposited by RF sputtering with various deposition rates. The bulk oxygen content has been characterized using EDS and XPS. Its dependence on deposition rate shows that water vapour in the sputtering chamber is at the origin of the contamination. It allows also estimating the adsorption coefficient of the oxygen on the sample to be around 15 % at 350 K. The magnetic hardness and the resistivity increase with the contamination in oxygen. In devitrified films, this increase is also related to an enrichment of the residual amorphous matrix in oxygen.

Microstructural Characterization of the Crystallization Sequence of a Severe Plastically Deformed Al-Ce-Ni-Co Amorphous Alloy

Discs of Al85Ce8Ni5Co2 amorphous alloy were severely deformed by high pressure torsion. Severe plastic deformation exceeding equivalent strain of 8.2 induces the formation of nanocrystalline fcc-Al in a more stable residual amorphous matrix. Calorimetric and X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that the deformed outer part of the disc crystallizes into a mixture of equilibrium phases during the first thermal event. However, in the amorphous ribbon the same crystalline mixture develops only after the second stage.

Temperature dependence of the soft magnetic character of Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 amorphous and nanocrystalline alloys

Results on microstructure and coercivity of current-annealed Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 amorphous alloy treated at different current densities (12–56 A/mm2) and duration (0.5–720 min) are presented. Saturation magnetization and coercivity dependencies with the current density of the nanocrystalline samples is explained by considering the presence of two phases: nanocrystals of Fe(Si) body-centered cubic (bcc) grains and the residual amorphous matrix. An increase in the magnetic hardness observed when the sample was heated by current densities, giving rise to an increase in the sample temperature above the Curie point of the residual amorphous matrix, could be ascribed to exchange and dipolar decoupling of the Fe(Si)-bcc grains.