Investigation of glass forming ability, thermal stability and soft magnetic properties of melt-spun Fe83P16−xSixCu1 (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) alloy ribbons

•The addition of Si improves the controllability of annealing process effectively.•The addition of Si decreases the annealing temperature sensitivity of Hc.•The Hc of nanocrystalline alloys decreases with the addition of Si.

The Si content dependences of glass forming ability (GFA), thermal stability and soft magnetic properties of melt-spun Fe83P16−xSixCu1 (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ribbons were investigated. The substitution of P by Si decreases the GFA of this alloy system. Thermal stability of melt-spun ribbons increases and temperature interval between the first and second crystallization peaks enlarges with the increase of Si content. Amorphous ribbons Fe83P16−xSixCu1 (x = 0, 1, 2, 3) were annealed at different temperatures ranging from 563 K to 653 K. The addition of Si enlarges the optimum annealing range and decreases the sensitivity of coercivity on annealing temperature, which improves the controllability of annealing process effectively. After optimum annealing the coercivity of nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloy Fe83P13Si3Cu1 is 7.3 A/m, which is lower than that of its Si-free counterpart Fe83P16Cu1. And its magnetic flux density shows slight decrease due to the formation of α-Fe(Si) solid solution.