Combinatorial Development of Amorphous/nanocrystalline Biphase Soft Magnetic Alloys with Silicon-steel like Saturated Magnetic Induction

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-throughput combinatorial screening method to rapidly identify amorphous/nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloys with high saturation induction, revealing a new alloy with record-breaking magnetic properties.

Contribution

A novel combinatorial high-throughput screening approach for developing soft magnetic alloys with optimized microstructure and magnetic properties.

Findings

Identified an alloy with saturation induction up to 2.02 T.

Discovered amorphous/nanocrystalline microstructure correlates with high Bs and low coercivity.

Developed a paradigm linking microstructure to magnetic performance.

Abstract

Maximization saturation magnetic induction (Bs) of soft magnetic alloys is essential for the high power-density electromagnetic devices. However, identifying the alloy compositions with high Bs often replies on the lab-intensive melt casting method and a high-throughput characterization on magnetic properties remains challenging. Here, we develop a new combinatorial method for fast screening alloys with optimal soft magnetic properties based on the high-throughput MOKE screening method. Based on the combinatorial method, we found that the alloys with a combination of high Bs and low coercivity (Hc) tend to have a feature of amorphous-nanocrystalline biphase microstructure. We also identified an amorphous/nanocrystalline alloy film with the composition the Fe68.09Co17.02B10.9Si4, exhibiting an ultra-high Bs up to 2.02 T that surpasses all amorphous/nanocrystalline alloys reported so far and is comparable to that of silicon steels, together with a high resistivity of 882 {\mu}{\Omega} {\dot} cm, about 17 times of silicon steels. Our high-throughput magnetic screening method provides a paradigm for understanding the relationship between microstructure and magnetic properties and the development of the next-generation soft magnetic materials.