Nanocrystallisation of FeCuNbB alloys

We investigated the alloy system Of Fe86-xCu1NbxB13 (X=4, 5, 7) in order to obtain information on the crystallisation behaviour of the amorphous precu rsor alloy and the resulting structural composition. Onset temperatures of different crystallisation steps were studied with DSC measurements. Dilatom etric and thermomagnetic measurements as well as those of the electrical re sistivity were applied in order to detect changes not being correlated with a change of the heat capacity. For a structural investigation, Mossbauer e ffect and electron diffraction experiments were carried out. Our results show that - up to a certain annealing temperature depending on the Nb content - there is only a nanocrystalline a-Fe phase, embedded in an amorphous matrix. At higher annealing temperatures crystalline FeB phases appear. (C) 1999 Acta Metallurgica Inc.