Magnetic measurements of Fe-Ni-Nb-B and Fe-Co-Mo-Cu-B in the vicinity of the Curie temperature

The study of the transition between ferromagnetic and paramagnetic states has been investigated on selected metallic glass systems based on Fe-Ni-Nb-B and Fe-Co-Mo-Cu-B with T_C close to room temperature. Samples in the form of ribbons were prepared by planar flow casting and magnetostriction in parallel and perpendicular directions and saturation magnetostrictions have been determined on these samples in as-cast states together with hysteresis loops. In addition, a magneto-optic device for dynamic domain observation has been used for observation of domain structure. Magnetostriction measurements using direct method of measurement show the decrease of saturation magnetostriction towards zero upon approaching T_C. In paramagnetic state the field dependencies of magnetostriction in parallel and perpendicular configurations exhibit a linear dependence on the external magnetic field. In the transition region of temperatures the dependencies are a combination of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic field dependencies. The coercivity H_C in the materials investigated exhibits values below 20 A/m. The observed magnetic domains are typical for this class of amorphous alloys. The polarization in paramagnetic state increases gradually with increase in magnetizing field, reflecting the increasing amount of polarized regions.