Structure and magnetic properties study of iron-based thermally sprayed alloys

The development of amorphous and nanocrystalline materials has drawn special attention of researchers in recent years, because the magnetic, chemical and mechanical properties of these materials can be greatly modified by the change of their structure to nanocrystalline or amorphous. A macroscopic behaviour of the amorphous alloy is completely different from the behaviour of the same alloy in a polycrystalline state. It concerns particularly magnetic and mechanical properties. Coatings were deposited by APS plasma thermal spraying on copper substrates using three types of powders, FeB (17.5 wt.% B), FeSi (6.5 wt.% Si) and FeNb (67.2 wt.% Nb). The structure of the coatings was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction. The magnetic properties of the deposits were also tested. Results obtained showed that the FeNb alloys are non-magnetic with a partially amorphous structure; however, FeSi and FeB alloys presented a microcrystalline structure with interesting soft magnetic properties. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.