Excellent Thermal Stability and Bulk Glass Forming Ability of Fe-B-Nb-Y Soft Magnetic Metallic Glass

Abstract

Effects of Y addition on the glass forming ability (GFA) of a Fe-B-Nb marginal glass former, and annealing effects on glassy/supercooled liquid phases as well as soft magnetic properties in the multicomponent Fe-B-Nb-Y alloy system were investigated. The origin of highly improved GFA in the multicomponent system is discussed with related to a characteristic exothermic phase transformation, chemical short range ordering, in the supercooled liquid region due to the positive heat of mixing between Nb-Y elements. The separating tendency between Nb and Y elements is considered to suppress precipitation of metastable Fe₂₃B₆ and α-Fe crystalline phases, thus to result in highly improving GFA and distinct high thermal stability against heat treatment of the alloy system. In addition, a glassy ring was fabricated by copper mold casting and magnetic properties were investigated before/after heat treatment.