Magnetic and structural properties of Fe65Co35 alloys obtained by melting, high-energy milling and heat treatment

The influence of milling and annealing conditions on the structural and magnetic behaviour of mechanically milled Fe65Co35 alloys has been studied. By differential scanning calorimetry measurements we determined the internal stress relaxation temperature, recrystallisation temperature and structural order/disorder transition temperature of bulk and mechanical milled Fe65Co35. The width of the X-ray diffraction peaks was found to increase with the milling time. Two types of annealing were performed: a conventional heat treatment at 500, 550 and 600 °C for 2 h and a rapid annealing for a maximum of 2 min at 700, 750 or 800 °C followed by quenching. Crystallite size increases with increasing heat treatment temperature and time, as both are parameters that influence the magnetic properties of the sample. Magnetic permeability variations result from internal stress evolution, changes in crystallite size, supposing that the crystallite size of the annealed samples is at the border between viability of the Herzer model and the classical behaviour of the permeability vs. crystallite size.