Comparative Study on Magnetic Properties and Microstructure of As-prepared and Alternating Current Joule Annealed Wires

Abstract

Abstract X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), magnetic measurement including impedance measurement were used for investigating the microstructure and magnetic properties of as-prepared and alternating current Joule annealed (ACJA) Co-rich amorphous microwires for potential sensor applications. Experimental results indicated that as-cast and ACJA wires both were amorphous characteristic, while ACJA wire has an enhanced local ordering degree of atom arrangement. There was a transform of magnetic properties after ACJA treatment, namely increasing coercivity, maximum magnetic permeability and saturation magnetization, resulting from the coactions of magnetic anisotropy and magnetic moment exchange coupling. Moreover, ACJA treatment can drastically improve the GMI property of melt-extracted wires. At 5 MHz, the maximum GMI ratio [Δ Z / Z 0]max of ACJA wire increases to 205.93%, which is nearly 4.1 times of 50.62% for as-cast wire, and the field response sensitivity ξ max of ACJA wire increases to 463.70%/Oe by more than 2 times of 212.15%/Oe for as-cast wire. From sensor application perspective, the sensor applied frequency range (SAFR) of ACJA wire is 3MHz-7 MHz (the better working frequency is at 5 MHz). It can therefore be concluded that the ACJA wire (60 mA, 480s, 50 Hz) has better GMI and magnetic properties, is more suitable for potential magnetic sensor applications working at low-frequency and relatively high-working-magnetic field.