Influence of stress relief on hysteretic magnetoimpedance in Co-rich amorphous ribbons at the relaxation frequency

The magnetoimpedance response shown by amorphous and nanostructured ultrasoft magnetic materials is a very promising effect suitable for application in a great variety of fields, as magnetic stress, strain or torsion sensors. However, magnetoimpedance hysteresis, which is related to irreversibilities in transverse magnetization processes, is an undesired effect for technological devices. Various thermal treatments were performed on Co-rich amorphous alloys to obtain quasi-reversible magnetoimpedance. Stress-relief-like treatments were found to reduce in a very significant way the hysteretic behaviour. Moreover, this improvement was analysed at the relaxation frequencies of the samples, where the magnetoimpedance has its maximum value. An attempt to understand the origin of this hysteresis reduction is given in this paper. The proposed explanation is based on the improvement of the reversibility in the magnetization processes, as a consequence of the decrease in the anelastic component of the induced anisotropy and the removal of wall pinning centres. Received: 2 October 2002 / Accepted: 7 October 2002 / Published online: 15 January 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +34-98/510-3324, E-mail: grande@pinon.ccu.uniovi.es     

Magnetoimpedance effect in Nanoperm alloys

The influence of isothermal annealing (1 h at 600 °C in Ar atmosphere) on the soft magnetic properties and magnetoimpedance (MI) effect has been studied in ribbons of the following Nanoperm alloys: Fe₉₁Zr₇B₂, Fe₈₈Zr₈B₄, Fe₈₇Zr₆B₆Cu₁ and Fe₈₀Zr₁₀B₁₀. A maximum MI ratio of about 27% was measured for the nanocrystalline alloy Fe₈₇Zr₆B₆Cu₁ at a driving frequency of 0.2 MHz. The thermal annealing led to magnetic softening for this alloy, while a hardening is observed for the Fe₈₀Zr₁₀B₁₀ alloy.     

High-frequency properties of thin amorphous ribbons

Magnetic energy losses have been investigated in Co-based near-zero-magnetostriction amorphous ribbons from DC to 10 MHz. Attention has been devoted to the properties of field-annealed ribbons thinned down to 5.8 μm and their behavior at high frequencies. A rationale is provided for the frequency dependence of the magnetic losses over the investigated many-decade range through analysis of the loss components. Ribbons annealed under transverse field benefit by limited irreversible domain wall activity and correspondingly reduced hysteresis and excess losses. Based on the near-linear response of the material and the permeability–energy loss relationship, the separate contributions of domain wall displacements and rotations to the magnetization process and the related dissipation effects are singled out at all frequencies. Very thin amorphous ribbons are shown to display lower loss and higher permeability (i.e. higher Snoek's product) than Mn–Zn ferrites at all frequencies.     

Magnetic properties of HITPERM-type alloys at high temperature

(Fe,Co)–Zr,Hf)–Cu–B (HITPERM-type) alloys with variable Hf, Zr and Co content were isothermally crystallised at 500–650 °C for 1 h, and the optimum nanocrystallisation temperature was selected on the basis of the minimum coercive field at room temperature. The quasistatic hysteresis loops were measured at temperature from 20 to 650 °C. Subsequently, the optimally annealed alloys were subjected to long-term annealing at 500, 550 and 600 °C. Working temperature of 600°C is too high for the investigated alloys to maintain stable magnetic properties. Temperature of 550 or 500 °C permits the material to be magnetically stable for a long period. The magnetic hysteresis loops recorded for the nanocrystalline alloys, where Fe:Co ratio is close to 1 and refractory metals content is 7 at.%, prove that coercive field increases slightly with temperature, but remains in the range of 20–40 A/m (depending on the alloy composition) from 20 to 550 °C. This proves that the investigated alloys, after optimisation of chemical composition, may be suitable for high temperature use.     

Advances in amorphous and nanocrystalline magnetic materials

Recent advances made in the area of amorphous and nanocrystalline alloys exhibiting high saturation inductions are reviewed. A new chemical composition was identified that achieves a saturation induction of 1.64 T in an iron-based amorphous alloy. This alloy, when used in electrical transformers, shows a much improved performance over the existing amorphous alloy. Nanocrystalline FeCoCuNbSiB alloys are found to have saturation induction levels reaching 1.7 T. These materials are suited for use in sensors and inductors carrying large currents. Some of these nanocrystalline alloys show a BH squareness ratio exceeding 90%, which can be utilized in pulse power devices. Recent developments in the applications of these materials are also pointed out.     

Magnetostriction in the rare-earth ferroborates RFe3(BO3)4, R=Pr and Tb

Recent experimental data for magnetostriction in the rare-earth (RE) ferroborates RFe₃(BO₃)₄ with R=Pr and Tb are discussed from a theoretical point of view. Multipole moments of RE ions are calculated in the framework of a crystal-field model for the RE ion and the molecular-field approximation. Quadrupole approximation is shown to be sufficient for interpretation of data for longitudinal magnetostriction at the magnetic field along the trigonal axis. Parameters of PrFe₃(BO₃)₄ are deduced when accounting for the experimental magnetization curves that manifest a spin-flop transition.     

Dynamic electromagnetic processes in micro-wires inferred from GMI-characteristics

The penetration depth of the skin-effect has been calculated for a specimen in the form of a piece of amorphous glass-coated magnetic micro-wire of the “non-magnetostrictive” composition Co₆₇Fe_3.85Ni_1.45Mo_1.7Si_14.5B_11.5 displaying large GMI effect. For these calculations a simple model was applied in which a rough assumption was made that the changes of the real component of the impedance are due only to changes in the effective cross-section of the wire for the AC-current. The evolution of the penetration depth with the applied DC-axial field and frequencies of the AC-current, flowing along the wire, is presented. The so-called Cole–Cole diagrams were also plotted for the same specimen. These diagrams, representing the measured impedance plotted in the complex plane, were obtained for axial DC-magnetic field of selected intensities and circular AC-field generated by an AC-current of various frequencies (1–30 MHz) flowing along the wire specimen. Analysis of the diagrams enabled one to characterize magnetization processes within the wire specimen and also to estimate the median relaxation time of these processes as well as a relative measure of the distribution of relaxation times.     

Cantilevered actuator using magnetostrictive thin film

This paper describes a cantilevered magnetic actuator driven by magnetostriction in a low magnetic field. The dimensions of the two layers actuator were 1×5 mm and amorphous FeSiB was used as the magnetostrictive material. Since the FeSiB has excellent soft magnetic characteristics, the actuator with FeSiB was able to work in magnetic field strength of less than 10 kA/m. The theoretical formulas for the amount of the displacement and the force of the actuator were obtained. The theoretical results agreed with the experimental one. According to the theoretical formula, the displacement was calculated with the parameter of the mechanical properties of the substrate. To obtain the large displacement, the actuator with Co substrate was designed based on the theoretical formula. The displacement of 153 μm was obtained using Cu substrate of 1.1 μm thickness in the magnetic field of 10 kA/m. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved     

Effect of dc-Joule-heating thermal processing on magnetoimpedance of Fe72Al5Ga2P11C6B4 amorphous alloy

The effect of multistep dc-Joule-heating thermal processing on magnetoimpedance (MI) of Fe₇₂Al₅Ga₂P₁₁C₆B₄ ribbons is presented. After material optimization significant increase of MI response up to value ΔZ/Z≈55% as well as sensitivity of about 6%/kA/m (for H?3–4 kA/m), were recorded in still amorphous samples at driving frequencies 2–3 MHz. On-line and post-annealing electrical resistivity together with Mössbauer spectra analysis and frequency dependence of the penetration depth were used for characterization of MI improvement.     

Soft magnetic properties of NiFe compacted powder alloys

It is known that Ni–Fe based alloys (permalloys) are important soft magnetic materials, which have been widely applied in the field of electronic devices and industry. The most suitable permalloys for application exhibit low value of coercivity and magnetostriction (for about 80 at% Ni), high saturation magnetic induction (for about 50 at% Ni), higher electrical resistivity (for about 35 at% Ni). The aim of this work was to investigate the structure and magnetic properties of _Ni81Fe19${\mathrm{Ni}}_{81}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{19}$ (wt%) compacted powder material in the form of small cylinders.     

High-frequency magneto-impedance in metastable metallic materials: An overview

The giant magneto-impedance effect (GMI) is a common feature of a wide class of metastable ferromagnetic alloys. This effect can be enhanced by submitting the as-prepared materials to suitable thermal treatments. Recently, a remarkably high magneto-impedance response has been observed in the GHz region for several systems. The increase in miniaturization of telecommunication devices dramatically increases the working frequencies; as a consequence, the interest in studying magneto-impedance effect leads to microwave region.     

Influence of Ge on magnetic and structural properties of Joule-heated Co-based ribbons: Giant magnetoimpedance response

Studies of magnetic and structural properties of Fe_3.5Co_66.5Si_12−xGe_xB₁₈ (x=0, 3, and 6) soft magnetic ribbons obtained by melt-spinning were performed. The samples were submitted to Joule-heating treatments with different maximum current values (0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.8 A, respectively) with steps of 0.01 A and times by step of 1, 2, and 10 s). X-ray diffraction, temperature dependence of magnetization (for the as-quenched samples), coercivity and giant magnetoimpedance (GMI), measured at different frequencies (100, 500, and 900 kHz, respectively) were performed. All the samples crystallized at annealing currents higher than 0.4 A, which was consistent with the magnetic hardening of the material. Coercivities less than 1 A/m were obtained for the three samples between 0.1 and 0.2 A. Maximum value of GMI response was observed for the sample without Ge in the as-quenched state.     

The effect of surface crystalline layers on asymmetric off-diagonal magnetoimpedance in field-annealed CoFeSiB amorphous ribbons

The off-diagonal magnetoimpedance in field-annealed CoFeSiB amorphous ribbons was measured using a pick-up coil wound around the sample. One side of a ribbon was etched in hydrofluoric acid solution during various times in order to change the thickness of the surface crystalline layer appearing after annealing. The asymmetric two-peak field dependence of the off-diagonal impedance was observed for all samples. The evolution of the off-diagonal magnetoimpedance with the change in the ribbon thickness is analyzed.     

Impacts of amorphous metal-based transformers on energy efficiency and environment

Magnetic properties of a recently developed Fe-based amorphous alloy with a high saturation induction of 1.65 T are reviewed. The increased saturation induction is fully utilized in transformers with reduced magnetic losses, physical sizes and audible noises, minimizing some of the drawbacks of amorphous metal-based transformers based on a currently available amorphous alloy. Impacts of this on the worldwide energy savings and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are discussed. A recent effort in achieving a saturation induction beyond 1.65 T in nanocrystalline alloys is mentioned.     

Measurement of the stress sensitivity of magnetostriction in electrical steels under distorted waveform conditions

Electrical steel laminations used in the construction of transformer cores are subject to stresses introduced during their construction and analysis of the effect of this on the magnetostriction of the lamination has been investigated previously. It has been shown that higher harmonics of magnetostriction are of greater importance than the fundamental when considering transformer noise. Whereas previous studies have concentrated on the magnetostriction harmonics generated by sinusoidal magnetization, this investigation seeks to understand the relationship between harmonics present in the magnetization waveform and those in the magnetostriction waveform. A measurement system has been designed based on a similar principle to one previously described. In this case, a single Labview Virtual Instrument (VI) is used for the control of the applied stress, controlled magnetization and measurement of magnetostriction together with other magnetic parameters such as specific total loss, specific apparent power, permeability, coercivity and remanence. An adaptive digital feedback algorithm is utilized for control of arbitrary waveform which may be constructed from discrete harmonics or read from an input waveform. As well as measuring peak magnetostriction the software utilizes an FFT to calculate the harmonics of magnetostriction at each stress point. The effect of harmonics introduced into the magnetization waveform on the magnetostriction harmonics will be shown at various applied stresses. A harmonic, Harm_B in the flux density waveform is shown to have the effect of producing a dominant harmonic in the magnetostriction given by (Harm_B+1)/2.     

Magnetic properties and stress distribution in hydrogenated FeCrB amorphous ribbons

Amorphous Fe₈₅${}_{85}$B₁₅${}_{15}$ and Fe₈₀${}_{80}$Cr_4.3${}_{4.3}$B_15.7${}_{15.7}$ ribbons were hydrogenated from air side. During spontaneous ribbon dehydrogenation, the hydrogen concentration and the constant of anisotropy induced by internal stress were measured and the ribbon bending, characterized by curvature, was recorded. The results obtained indicate that internal stresses in samples under study are proportional to the hydrogen concentration, and hydrogen distribution is not homogeneous in the cross-section of sample. The hydrogen concentration is the largest in the region close to hydrogenated surface. The hydrogen release from this region is very fast and corresponds to the curvature decrease, and it can be, similar to the decrease of total hydrogen concentration, fitted by exponential function.     

Enhanced magnetization in Co and Ta-substituted BiFeO3 ceramics

Cobalt (Co) and tantalum (Ta) co-substituted BiFeO₃ polycrystalline ceramics were prepared by a solid-state reaction and their magnetic and dielectric properties were investigated. Magnetic hysteresis loops were clearly observed in co-substituted specimens and magnetization was greatly improved. The co-substitution decreased the electrical conductivity by six orders of magnitude along with the reduction of grain size. The magnetoelectric coupling was estimated in co-substituted BiFeO₃ by determining the changes of the dielectric constant with an external magnetic field.     

Radio-frequency annealing effects in amorphous Fe40Ni40B20

The influence of radio frequency (rf) magnetic fields on the properties of amorphous Fe₄₀Ni₄₀B₂₀ was studied using Mössbauer spectroscopy. The measurements were performed with frequencies of 67 and 53 MHz and rf field intensity in the range of 1 to 12 Oe. The narrowing of the hyperfine spectra due to the rf field and the formation of rf sidebands were observed. The effect of instability and crystallization of the amorphous metal enhanced by the rf field at temperatures much lower than the crystallization temperature was observed.