DENSITY, ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY AND MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY OF FeNiSiBNb ALLOY IN SOLID AND LIQUID STATES

Metallic alloys in amorphous (disordered) and nanocrystalline states which possess distinctive electrical, magnetic and mechanical properties compared with existing crystalline analogues are necessary for creation of modern transformer cores and elements of other magnetic and electrical devices. Formation of an amorphous state in metal alloys is one of the methods for obtaining new materials. The above properties characterizing of amorphous and nanocrystalline multicomponent alloys based on iron, nickel and cobalt with small addition of boron and silicon. At the same time obtaining the amorphous state in most cases is associated with quenching from the melt, thus, data on the physical properties of master alloys at high temperatures are important, but to date they are presented in the literature only fragmentarily. In this paper, structure (X-ray diffraction) and physical properties (density, electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility) of Fe₃₉Ni₃₉B₁₉Si₃Nb₄ alloy were investigated in a wide temperature range, including liquid state. It was shown that at room temperature the alloy is a multiphase composition based on (at higher temperatures, a solid solution) Fe_0.75Ni_0.25 compound (up to 91.3%), as well as several binary compounds with boron and silicon: FeB, NbB₂, Ni₆Si₂B, Ni₃B. It was established that in liquid state the alloy is characterized by monotonic changes in properties, however near temperature 1425 K changes in slope of density and electrical resistivity temperature dependences take place. Temperature dependences of magnetic susceptibility in liquid state are smooth and can be described by the generalized Curie–Weiss law. Effective magnetic moment per alloy atom, paramagnetic Curie temperature and density of electron states at Fermi level were calculated from the experimental data. It has been established that there is a strong chemical interaction between the atoms in the melt.

multicomponent alloys, iron, density, electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility