Crystallization process of amorphous Fe86Zr7B6Cu1 alloy under hot isothermal pressing

Amorphous Fe86Zr7B6Cu1 ribbons were annealed at 600 °C by hot isothermal pressing (HIP) under pressures in the range of 0-150 MPa. It is shown that HIP has a great influence on the crystallization process of amorphous ribbons. The grain size of bcc α-Fe decreases with the increase of pressure. The decrease of the grain size results from the fact that the pressure decreases the nucleus size of crystalline α-Fe phase and constrains its growth. The volume fraction of crystalline α-Fe phase increases with increasing the pressure from 0 to 100 MPa, and then decreases with further increase. The dependence of the volume fraction of crystalline α-Fe phase on pressure is attributed to the combined roles of the nucleation rate and the grain growth rate.