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Effect of pre-existing nuclei on microstructure and magnetic properties of high Bs FINEMET-like nanocrystalline alloys

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Abstract

The effect of conventional annealing and rapid annealing on the magnetic properties and microstructure of Fe78+2xSi7.2-xB13-xCu0.8Nb1 (x = 0, 1, 2) alloys is discussed systematically. The study was found that the existence of a large number of pre-existing nuclei in the amorphous phase of Fe82Si5.2B11Cu0.8Nb1 alloy can produce tiny nanocrystals and thus result in excellent soft magnetic properties. When the average nanocrystal size is 16 nm using rapid annealing, the best soft magnetic performance can be obtained, in which Bs reaches 1.80 T, Hc is 5 A/m, and μ is 20,000 at 1 kHz. The crystallization kinetics shows that as the Fe content increases, the incubation time of nucleation of the alloys decreases, and the nucleation is faster and easier. In addition, a large number of pre-existing crystal nuclei not only greatly reduces the nucleation activation energy of the alloy but also achieves grain refinement and excellent magnetic properties through grain competition growth.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2016YFB0300500), the S&T Innovation 2025 Major Special Program (grant number 2018B10084), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 51801224, 51771161), and the Leading Talents of Tianshan Cedar Program of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (grant number 2019XS02) and the Tianshan Innovation Team Program of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (grand number 2020D14038).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, 830046, Xinjiang, China

    Fushan Bai, Yaqiang Dong, Lei Xie & Qiang Li

  2. Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, Zhejiang, China

    Fushan Bai, Aina He, Xingjie Jia, Jiawei Li & Xinmin Wang

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yaqiang Dong, Aina He & Jiawei Li

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  1. Fushan Bai
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Correspondence to Yaqiang Dong or Qiang Li.

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Bai, F., Dong, Y., Xie, L. et al. Effect of pre-existing nuclei on microstructure and magnetic properties of high Bs FINEMET-like nanocrystalline alloys. J Mater Sci 56, 9254–9262 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-021-05861-x

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