Effects of nanocrystallisation on saturation magnetisation of amorphous Fe76Si9B10P5

Amorphous Fe76Si9B10P5 particles were fabricated by a container-free solidification process and subsequent annealing, and their structural and magnetic properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis, transmission electronic microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry. The annealing induced the nanocrystallisation of α-Fe and Fe-B compounds. The proportions of the different crystalline phases formed were dependent on the annealing temperature. The saturation magnetisation of the single particles was higher than that of the samples prepared by a conventional quenching process; this was attributable to the higher homogeneity of the nanocrystalline grains of the former as well as their higher α-Fe to Fe-B compound ratio