Effects of Cu and Co additions on the crystallization and magnetic properties of FeNbB alloy

The nanocrystalline-forming element Cu and magnetic element Co are commonly used as additive elements to tune the structure and improve the properties of alloys.In this study,four kinds of amorphous alloys,Fe_(72)Nb_(12)B_(16),Fe_(72)Nb_(12)B_(15)Cu_(1),Fe_(36)Co_(36)Nb_(12)B_(16),and Fe_(36)Co_(36)Nb_(12)B_(15)Cu_(1),were prepared by melt-spinning and annealed at various temperatures to investigate the effects of Cu and Co additions,individually and in combination,on the crystallization and magnetic properties of Fe_(72)Nb_(12)B_(16)alloy.The four kinds of alloys exhibited different crystallization behaviors with different primary crystallization phases observed.For the Fe_(72)Nb_(12)B_(16)alloy,only theα-Mn-type metastable phase formed after annealing.The addition of 1 at.%Cu and 36 at.%Co led to the observation of theα-Mn-type andβ-Mn-type metastable phases,respectively,and a reduction in the crystallization volume fraction in the metastable phase.The Fe_(36)Co_(36)Nb_(12)B_(15)Cu_(1)alloy only exhibitedα-Fe(Co)phase as a primary phase,and the addition of both Cu and Co completely inhibited the precipitation of the metastable phase.Cu clusters were found in energy dispersive spectroscopy elemental maps.Compared with other alloys,Fe_(36)Co_(36)Nb_(12)B_(15)Cu_(1)alloy with both Cu and Co exhibited a lower coercivity(Hc)below 973 K.