Study of microstructure and magnetic properties of Fe-Si-B-Cu amorphous alloy with partial substitution of C for B

Impact of minor substitution of carbon on microstructure, magnetic properties and hyperfine interactions of Fe–Si–B–Cu-type metallic glasses was investigated. For this purpose, samples of Fe83.3Si4B12Cu0.7 and Fe83.3Si4B11Cu0.7C1 compositions were prepared using melt spinning technique. Then, to study different characteristics of samples, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, magnetic thermogravimetry, scanning electron microscopy, Mӧssbauer spectrometry, and magnetic measurements were applied. Fully amorphicity of the samples and a larger heat treatment temperature range of the C-containing sample was found. Though minor carbon introduction had negligible effect upon average values of hyperfine magnetic fields and chemical short-range order, structural deviation in topological short-range order was unveiled. No change was observed in saturation magnetization, however, the amount of coercive field in the case of perpendicular external magnetic field decreased significantly.