Structural Relaxation in Fe(Co)SiAlGaPCB Amorphous Alloys

Abstract

The structural relaxation of multicomponent Fe(Co)SiAlGaPCB amorphous alloys was investigated calorimetrically for annealed samples over a wide temperature range below the glass transition temperature. Upon heating, the annealed samples exhibit an endothermic reaction (enthalpy relaxation) starting around the annealing temperature and continuing over a temperature range of about 50-140 K, that it is followed by a broad exothermic reaction. Changes in the heat flow curves with annealing temperature and time were analyzed. Experimental values of the overall enthalpy change, ΔH, the peak temperature of the difference in heat flow between the annealed and the as-quenched samples, Tp, and Curie temperature, TC, were fitted by exponential functions including two relaxation times. Values of the two relaxation times are the same for different annealing temperatures regardless the considered property. Saturation values of these magnitudes show a linear dependence with the inverse of the annealing temperature. Tiny domains (2-3 nm in diameter) in the matrix observed by spherical aberration corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy could be attributed to some medium-range order in the atomic structure of these quenched alloys.