The effect of introduction of carbon on the glass forming ability and magnetic properties of melt-spun Fe-Si-B-Cu-C alloys

The effect of the minor addition of carbon on the amorphous forming ability and soft magnetic properties for the Fe83.5-xSi2B14Cu0.5Cx (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5) alloys were investigated. With the addition of minor C in Fe83.5Si2B14Cu0.5, the amorphous forming ability and the soft magnetic properties are improved clearly. The phase structure identified by XRD reveals that minor C addition inhibits the surface of crystallization and improve its amorphous-forming ability, when x = 0.2 and x = 03, a fully amorphous alloys were successfully obtained. All the as-quenched Fe-Si-B-Cu-C alloy ribbons show two separated distinct exothermic peaks from DSC curves. The addition of minor C element is contributed to increase the onset temperature of crystallization and a better thermal stability of the amorphous alloys. VSM and DC-BH loop tracer measurements show that the Fe83.3Si2B14Cu0.5C0.2 amorphous alloys exhibit saturation magnetic flux density of 151.5 emu/g and low Hc of 4.0 A/m, respectively. By annealing, these amorphous alloys exhibit higher saturated magnetization. Low material cost and excellent soft magnetic properties make the FeSiBCuC alloys promise soft magnetic materials for industrial applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.