FORMATION OF NANOCRYSTALLINE PHASES BY CRYSTALLIZATION OF METALLIC GLASSES

The first phase to crystallize out as a result of thermal annealing of amorphous Fe73.5Si16.5B6Cu1Nb3 is a stoichiometric Fe3Si phase. With increasing annealing time the Si concentration in the crystalline phase decreases to about 19%. Nanocrystals are fully grown in size after annealing for 5 min at 540-degrees-C. The variation of spin texture in the specimen with annealing is markedly different from that in normal metallic glasses and may be understood in terms of an interplay between increasing internal stresses and decreasing magnetostriction.