INVESTIGATIONS ON THE GRAIN-GROWTH PROCESSES IN NANOCRYSTALLINE FE73.5CU1NB3SI16.5B6

The structure formation in the amorphous matrix and the growth of crys tallites subject to a heat treatment in the alloy of the type Fe73.5Cu 1Nb3Si16.5B6 is obtained using XRD and SAXS. A combination of the resu lts gained by both methods leads to conclusions concerning the behavio r of the crystalline and amorphous phases. The existence of a crystall ine phase (Fe3Si) in the annealed samples is proved with XRD. The crys tal size increases with the annealing temperature and comes up to 15 n m in diameter (600-degrees-C, 1 h). XRD studies show that the as-quenc hed sample is completely amorphous. The amorphous sample causes small angle scattering, leading to the conclusion that it contains nanoamorp hous demixing structures. The size of these demixing structures is equ al to the size of the crystallites after heat treatment of 1 h at 550- degrees-C. This is the state with the best soft magnetic behavior of t his material. Further the anisotropic growth of the nanocrystallites d ue to a direct current heat treatment is investigated.