Annealing Effect on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of Granular Cu80Fe10Ni10 Ribbons

We report on the effect of annealing process on the structural and magnetic properties of granular Cu80Fe10Ni10 ribbons prepared by melt spinning technique. Energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy measurements show that the precipitates (Fe10Ni10) are localized at the grain boundaries of the Cu matrix for the non-annealed samples. After an annealing treatment at 600 °C, a strong diffusion of the precipitates within the Cu matrix is observed. The temperature dependence of magnetization has been analyzed using the Bloch law. Spin wave stiffness constant D and the exchange constant A were calculated from the experimental results. Furthermore, we show that the random magnetic anisotropy (RMA) model is applicable to describe the experimental results. Other fundamental parameters have also been calculated using the approach to saturation magnetization. Ab initio calculations based on Korringa-Kohn-Rostocker (KKR) method are carried out in order to characterize both electronic and magnetic properties.