PNNL

Abstract

This paper focuses on laser-based de-vitrification of amorphous soft magnetic Fe-Si-B ribbons and its consequent influence on the magnetic properties. Laser processing resulted in a finer scale of crystallites due to rapid heating and cooling during laser annealing compared to conventional furnace annealing process. A significant increase in saturation magnetization is observed for laser-annealed ribbons compared to both as-received and furnace annealed samples coupled with an increase in coercivity compared to as received sample. The combined effect of thermal histories and stresses developed during laser annealing results in the formation of nano-crystalline phase along the laser track. The phase evolution is traced with the aid of micro-XRD and TEM analysis. The solute partitioning and compositional variation within the phases are obtained by Local Electrode Atom probe analysis. The evolution of microstructure is rationalized using a Finite Element based heat transfer multi-physics model.