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 phas e decreases to about 19%. Nanocrystals are fully grown in size after a nnealing 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 betwee n increasing internal stresses and decreasing magnetostriction.