Non-isothermal nanocrystallization kinetics study on (Fe0.8Ni0.15M0.05)78Si8B14 (M = Nb, Ta, W) amorphous alloys

• Nb, Ta and W addition affected nucleation and growth mechanism of FeNiSiB alloys.
• The alloy with Ta had the best thermal stability compared to the other two alloys.
• A process of Fe2B from metastable Fe3B phase existed in the alloy M = Ta.
• Nb and W may inhibit formation of metastable Fe3B phase.

The nanocrystallization kinetics of the (Fe0.8Ni0.15M0.05)78Si8B14 (M = Nb, Ta, W) amorphous alloy was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Kissinger method, Ozawa method and the expended Friedman method were used to calculate and compare the kinetic parameters of the crystallization processes. The nanocrystallization mechanism for the non-isothermal primary crystallization of the amorphous alloys were discussed using Avrami exponent n. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies verified the influence of nanocrystallization mechanism on the microstructure.