Nucleation control for fine nano crystallization of Fe-based amorphous alloy by high-magnetic-field annealing

The magnetization measurements for an Fe_83.3Si_4.2B_12.5 amorphous alloy were carried out to investigate the magnetic field effect on the crystallization kinetics. From the isochronal measurements, the gain of the Zeeman energy was estimated from the increase of magnetization at the crystallization temperature. By the isothermal measurements, the growth curve of bcc-Fe(Si), which is the primary crystal phase of this material, was obtained. The growth curve at 10 T shows more abrupt time evolution, compared with that at 0.5 T. However, the growth curves as a function of the scaled time converge to a universal sigmoidal curve, regardless of the applied magnetic field strength. These behaviors indicate that the rate of this crystallization reaction is increased, whereas the crystallization process is not changed by applying the high magnetic field.