Role of Si in high Bs and low core-loss Fe85.2B10-XP4Cu0.8SiX nano-crystalline alloys

The effects of Si element on structural and magnetic properties of Fe-rich Fe85.2B10-XP4Cu0.8SiX (x=0-2.5 at. %) alloys were investigated. Our results show that addition of Si significantly reduces the activation energy for nucleation of alpha-Fe and increases the activation energy for grain growth. As a result, it is much easier to obtain a finer and uniform nanogranular structure (grain size similar to 18 nm) made from densely packed alpha-Fe grains after annealing in the case of Si-containing alloys (Fe-B-P-Si-Cu) in comparison to Si-free alloys (Fe-B-P-Cu). However, addition of Si on the expense of B reduces the amorphous forming ability of the alloy, which results in lower reproducibility. The reproducibility improves significantly in Si-free alloy, but the structure of the alloy is relatively unstable on annealing, which means more strict annealing treatment is required. After optimum annealing treatment, Si-free alloys (Hc similar to 6A/m, Js similar to 1.83 T) show superior soft magnetic properties than the Si-containing alloys (Hc similar to 10A/m, Js similar to 1.78 T). Results show that the excellent soft magnetic cores can be obtained only if the extra heat generated on nano-crystallization of as-quenched amorphous phase can be released efficiently. The toroidal core of Si-free alloy (core-loss, W similar to 0.58 W/kg at similar to 1.7 T, 50Hz) exhibits lower magnetic core loss than the Si containing alloys (core-loss, W similar to 1.51 W/kg at similar to 1.7 T, 50Hz). (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4765718]