Preparation of bulk Fe75Nb3Si13B9 amorphous and nanocrystalline alloys by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

ABSTRACTBulk Fe75Nb3Si13B9 amorphous and nanocrystalline alloy with 10 mm in diameter and 6 mm in height was fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering technology. The phase composition, glass transition temperature (Tg), onset crystallization temperature (Tx), peak temperature (Tp) and super-cooled liquid region (ΔTx) of Fe75Nb3Si13B9 amorphous alloy powders were analysed by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. The phase transition, microstructure, mechanical properties, resistivity and magnetic properties of the bulk alloys at different sintering temperatures were discussed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, Gleeble 3500, power conversion efficiency measuring instrument and vibration sample magnetometer, respectively. It is found that with the increase of the sintering temperature at the loading pressure of 500 MPa, the density, compressive strength, micro-hardness and saturation magnetization of the sintering samples were improved significantly, the amorphous phase gradually began to crystallization. Finally, the desirable amorphous and nanocrystalline magnetic materials under the loading pressure of 500 MPa at the sintering temperature of 883 K has a a density of 6.604 g/cm3, compressive strength of 1196.45 MPa and a saturation magnetization of 156.11 emu/g.