Structural transformation of NANOPERM-type metallic glasses followed in situ by synchrotron radiation during thermal annealing in external magnetic field

•On-fly inspection of structural transformations during magnetic annealing.•Crystallization starts by ∼100 K earlier during magnetic annealing.•Potential for modification of the material properties using magnetic field.•The whole crystallization process was followed with high time resolution.

Kinetics of the crystallization process of Fe–Mo–Cu–B-type metallic glass is studied to fine details during heat treatment under weak external magnetic field (0.652 T). Structural arrangement as well as magnetic microstructure is followed on-fly using sophisticated method of in situ nuclear forward scattering (NFS) of synchrotron radiation. The latter provides both quantitative (relative fractions) and qualitative (hyperfine magnetic fields) temperature dependencies of all structurally different samples’ components. They belong to the amorphous residual matrix, the newly formed nanocrystalline grains, and to their surfaces, respectively. The onset of crystallization during in-field magnetic annealing starts ∼100 K earlier than that in zero field.

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