Relaxation phenomena in amorphous Co75−x Mn x B25 induced by stress annealing

The change of the magnetization direction in amorphous ferromagnets by the application of a magnetic field and a tensile stress is investigated by magnetoresistivity measurements. Attention is focussed on permanently remaining influences on the domain structure induced by stress annealing treatments. To observe any dependence on the sign of the magnetostrictionλ _s, we investigated the amorphous Co_75?x Mn _x B₂₅ system where the sign ofλ _s changes from negative to positive values with increasing Mn content. Surprisingly the stress-annealed samples showed a similar behavior independent of the sign of the magnetostriction.