Effect of Fe Content on Crystallization Behaviors and Magnetic Properties of Amorphous Alloys Fex(SiB)96-xP3Cu1

Abstract

Crystallization behavior and soft magnetic properties of amorphous alloys Fex(Si B)96-xP3Cu1(x=75, 78, 80, 83 and 85, atomic fraction, %) were investigated. It was found that the apparent activation energy for crystallization decreased with the increasing Fe content of the Fex(Si B)96- xP3Cu1 alloys. The phases precipitated after properly complete crystallization treatment were the same for all the alloys with varying Fe content. The annealed Fex(Si B)96- xP3Cu1(x=80, 83 and 85) alloys exhibited a uniform nanostructure with grain size smaller than 20 nm, while the grain sizes of the alloys with x=75 and 78 ranged from 5 nm to 50 nm. The saturation magnetization enhanced nonlinearly as the Fe content increased from 75 to 85. The nanocrystalline alloy Fe85Si3B8P3Cu1 exhibited excellent soft magnetic properties with a coercivity of 12 A·m-1and a saturation magnetization of 1.87 T. The core loss values of nanocrystalline alloys Fe85Si3B8P3Cu1 and Fe83Si4B9P3Cu1were still less than 1.0 W·kg- 1even if the saturation magnetic induction intensity was up to 1.7 T, which were superior to that of the commercial Fe78Si9B13 alloy and nonorientated silicon steel.