Influence of Annealing Conditions on Nanocrystalline and Ultra-Soft Magnetic Properties of Fe75.5Cu1Nb1Si13.5B9 Alloy

The magnetic and structural properties of FINEMET alloy with a composition of Fe75.5Cu1Nb1Si13.5B9 were investigated after primary and secondary crystallization of amorphous ribbon sample. The crystallization behavior and the nanocrystal formation of the samples were performed by differential thermal analysis (DTA) which in turn was supported by X-ray diffraction (XRD) study. Temperature dependence of initial permeability of amorphous and devitrified toroid shaped samples has been measured. Enhancement of Curie temperature of the amorphous alloy has been observed due to the irreversible structural relaxation. With the appearance of nanocrystalline phase the Curie temperature of the residual amorphous phase gradually decrease with the increase of annealing temperature. Their temperature dependence reflects the characteristic annealing temperature evolution of the basic magnetic parameters in these nanocrystalline systems. Saturation magnetization, Ms, increases with annealing temperature Ta for the samples and finally decreases during annealing at a temperature much higher than peak crystallization temperature.