Low temperature properties of nanocrystalline Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 ribbons

Many investigations on nanocrystalline samples were performed between room temperature and elevated temperatures but there is still a lack of low-temp erature studies especially that of coercivity and magnetostriction. In this work we present measurements of the low-temperature behavior of magnetic p roperties like coercivity, magnetization and magnetostriction of Fe73.5Cu1N b3Si13.5B9 samples at different stages of crystallization and also in compa rison to the amorphous state. The temperature dependence of the magnetostri ction was measured by the small-angle magnetization rotation method which e xhibits a high sensitivity. The magnetization data of the samples were used for analyzing the temperature dependence of magnetostriction in the low-te mperature range in order to obtain information about the physical mechanism of the magnetostriction for such a kind of samples. From the temperature dependence of the magnetization, which follows the Blo ch T-3/2 law, the spin wave stiffness constant can be estimated. The temper ature dependence of coercivity H-c below room temperature is also discussed . (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.