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Effects of annealing temperature and heating rate on microstructure, magnetic, and mechanical properties of high-Bs Fe81.7−xSi4B13NbxCu1.3 nanocrystalline alloys

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Abstract

The effects of annealing temperature and heating rate on the microstructure, magnetic, and mechanical properties of melt-spun Fe81.7−xSi4B13Cu1.3Nbx (x = 0–4) alloy ribbons have been investigated. With increasing the annealing temperature, a ductile–brittle transition occurs during amorphous structure relaxation, the brittleness becomes severe with more α-Fe precipitation, and the hardness rises continuously. After annealing at respective optimum temperatures under the heating rate of 20 K/min, as the Nb content increases from 0 to 4 at.%, average grain size (Dα-Fe) and volume fraction (Vα-Fe) of the α-Fe in the nanocrystalline alloys decrease gradually from 53.3 nm and 52% to 8.7 nm and 42%, respectively; the strain at fracture (εf) representing ductile level increases from 1.33 to 1.72%; and the coercivity (Hc), saturation magnetic flux densities (Bs), and Vickers hardness (Hv) all decrease gradually. As the heating rate rises from 10 to 400 K/min, the Dα-Fe of the Fe81.7Si4B13Cu1.3 alloy decreases from 45.7 to 28.4 nm without considerable variation of the Vα-Fe; the Hc lowers from 235 to 25 A/m, the εf increases from 1.10 to 1.66%, and the Bs and Hv change slightly. Enriching of Nb weakens the dependence of nanostructure, magnetic softness, and annealing embrittlement on the heating rate. A correlation of εf ∝ Dα-Fen is found for the nanocrystalline alloys, where the n rises from − 1 to − 1/2 with enriching of Nb from 0 to 4 at.%. The mechanisms by which nanostructure affects magnetic and mechanical properties have been discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [Grant Number 2017YFB0903903]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Numbers 51571047, 51771039]; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant Number DUT20JC12].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Materials Modification by Laser, Ion, and Electron Beams (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Yanhui Li, Guozhong Zhang, Licheng Wu & Wei Zhang

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  1. Yanhui Li
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  2. Guozhong Zhang
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  4. Wei Zhang
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YHL contributed to formal analysis, writing—review and editing. GZZ contributed to investigation, writing—original draft. LCW contributed to investigation. WZ contributed to supervision, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Wei Zhang.

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Li, Y., Zhang, G., Wu, L. et al. Effects of annealing temperature and heating rate on microstructure, magnetic, and mechanical properties of high-Bs Fe81.7−xSi4B13NbxCu1.3 nanocrystalline alloys. J Mater Sci 56, 2572–2583 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05341-8

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