Kana Takenaka

Magnetic properties of 120-mm wide ribbons of high Bs and low core-loss NANOMET® alloy

A 120-mm wide amorphous ribbon of a Fe-Co-Si-B-P-Cu NANOMET® alloy has been successfully produced by a single roll melt spinning technique. The optimally annealed samples exhibited low coercivity (Hc) of 5–7 A/m and high saturation magnetic flux density (Bs) of 1.83 T. The plots of Hc and Bs vs. annealing temperature (Ta) revealed basin-like and plateau-like characteristics, respectively, indicating the good annealing controllability for nanocrystallization and for obtaining soft-magnetic properties with high Bs. The excellent magnetic softness was attributed to the nanocrystalline structure composed of homogeneously dispersed α-Fe grains (with a size of 15–20 nm in diameter) emerged from the amorphous structure after optimum annealing. The nanocrystalline ribbons also exhibited low core-losses (W at 50 Hz) of 0.37 and 0.64 W/kg under maximum flux density of 1.5 T and 1.7 T, respectively. The magnetic properties were comparable with those of laboratory-scale small-width ribbons and confirmed to be indepen...

Artificially produced rare-earth free cosmic magnet

Chemically ordered hard magnetic L10-FeNi phase of higher grade than cosmic meteorites is produced artificially. Present alloy design shortens the formation time from hundreds of millions of years for natural meteorites to less than 300 hours. Electron diffraction detects four-fold 110 superlattice reflections and a high chemical order parameter (S  0.8) for the developed L10-FeNi phase. The magnetic field of more than 3.5 kOe is required for the switching of magnetization. Experimental results along with computer simulation suggest that the ordered phase is formed due to three factors related to the amorphous state: high diffusion rates of the constituent elements at lower temperatures when crystallizing, a large driving force for precipitation of the L10 phase, and the possible presence of L10 clusters. Present results can resolve mineral exhaustion issues in the development of next-generation hard magnetic materials because the alloys are free from rare-earth elements, and the technique is well suited for mass production.

Pd30Pt17.5Cu32.5P20 alloy with low critical cooling rate of 0.067K∕s

In order to realize biomedical applications of bulk glassy alloys, Pd-based glassy alloys with Ni-free composition were developed. The alloy with the highest glass-forming ability was obtained at a composition of Pd30Pt17.5Cu32.5P20. The critical cooling rate for glass formation was measured to be 0.050–0.067K∕s. It is also recognized that the crystallization of the undercooled alloy is mainly dominated by surface nucleation. The apparent crystal growth rate of the alloy was slightly higher than that of the previously reported Pd40Cu30Ni10P20 alloy at the same degree of undercooling. The highly processable feature of the alloy has potential for biomedical applications.

Fabrication and nano-imprintabilities of Zr-, Pd- and Cu-based glassy alloy thin films

With the aim of investigating nano-imprintability of glassy alloys in a film form, Zr(49)Al(11)Ni(8)Cu(32), Pd(39)Cu(29)Ni(13)P(19) and Cu(38)Zr(47)Al(9)Ag(6) glassy alloy thin films were fabricated on Si substrate by a magnetron sputtering method. These films exhibit a very smooth surface, a distinct glass transition phenomenon and a large supercooled liquid region of about 80 K, which are suitable for imprinting materials. Moreover, thermal nano-imprintability of these obtained films is demonstrated by using a dot array mold with a dot diameter of 90 nm. Surface observations revealed that periodic nano-hole arrays with a hole diameter of 90 nm were successfully imprinted on the surface of these films. Among them, Pd-based glassy alloy thin film indicated more precise pattern imprintability, namely, flatter residual surface plane and sharper hole edge. It is said that these glassy alloy thin films, especially Pd-based glassy alloy thin film, are one of the promising materials for fabricating micro-machines and nano-devices by thermal imprinting.

Fabrication of nanodot array mold with 2 Tdot/in.2 for nanoimprint using metallic glass

Here, the authors fabricated a mold consisting of nanodot arrays with an 18-nm pitch and performed nanoimprinting of metallic glass for developing bitpatterned media (BPM) with an areal recording density of 2 Tbit/in.2. Specifically, they investigated the feasibility of SiO2/Si mold fabrication by metal mask patterning with focused ion beam assisted chemical vapor deposition (FIB-CVD) and reactive ion etching (RIE). SiO2 was etched with a mixed gas of CHF3 and O2, resulting in successful fabrication of convex nanodot arrays with an 18-nm pitch. The authors attempted nanoimprinting of Pd-based metallic glass with the fabricated SiO2 mold and clearly confirmed the replication of the fine nanohole pattern. These results suggest that the proposed FIB-CVD and RIE process is a promising method for fabricating ultrafine nanodot arrays and that metallic glasses are excellent nanoimprintable materials for mass-produced nanodevices such as BPM with ultrahigh recording density.

Performance of a prototype power transformer constructed by nanocrystalline Fe-Co-Si-B-P-Cu soft magnetic alloys

To clarify the feasibility and performance of Fe81.2Co4Si0.5B9.5P4Cu0.8 alloy (with trade name NANOMET®) for electrical power applications, a prototype transformer was constructed. After surface treatment, as-quenched ribbons with a constant width of 50 mm and a thickness of ∼30 μm were wound into a toroidal shape. Nanocrystallization of toroidal core was performed by immersing it in a salt at 673 K for 180 s. The transformer constructed in the present work exhibit low core loss similar to the transformer constructed by a commercial Fe-based amorphous alloy. In spite of issues related to the annealing/nano-crystallization of the core, the feasibility for commercialization of NANOMET in power transformer applications can be confirmed. We believe the potential of NANOMET as core material for next generation of power transformer seems to be huge.

Evolution of fcc Cu clusters and their structure changes in the soft magnetic Fe85.2Si1B9P4Cu0.8 (NANOMET) and FINEMET alloys observed by X-ray absorption fine structure

It is known that Cu plays an essential role in reducing the grain size of precipitated bcc Fe(Si) nanocrystallites in a nanocrystalline soft-magnetic Fe85.2Si1B9P4Cu0.8 (NANOMET®) alloys like as an Fe73.5Si13.5B9Nb3Cu1 (FINEMET®). However, significant differences are there between two alloys; NANOMET has much higher iron content (∼85%) than FINEMET (73.5%) and the former contains P instead of Nb for the latter. In the present work, the local structure around Cu in FINEMET was measured by X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) at 20 K and compared with those of NANOMET during nanocrystallization. Definite differences between NANOMET and FINEMET are found in the way of the evolution of Cu clusters during nanocrystallization. In FINEMET, an fcc structure of Cu is recognized in an as-quenched ribbon indicating existence of a small number of Cu clusters or a very small size of Cu clusters which is stable up to 450 °C, while the fcc Cu clusters are developed rapidly above 450 °C. An fcc structure of the Cu clus...

Phase transition from fcc to bcc structure of the Cu-clusters during nanocrystallization of Fe85.2Si1B9P4Cu0.8 soft magnetic alloy

A role of Cu on the nanocrystallization of an Fe85.2Si1B9P4Cu0.8 alloy was investigated by X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The Cu K-edge XAFS results show that local structure around Cu is disordered for the as-quenched sample whereas it changes to fcc-like structure at 613 K. The fcc Cu-clusters are, however, thermodynamically unstable and begin to transform into bcc structure at 638 K. An explicit bcc structure is observed for the sample annealed at 693 K for 600 s in which TEM observation shows that precipitated bcc-Fe crystallites with ∼12 nm are homogeneously distributed. The bcc structure of the Cu-clusters transforms into the fcc-type again at 973 K, which can be explained by the TEM observations; Cu segregates at grain boundaries between bcc-Fe crystallites and Fe3(B,P) compounds. Combining the XAFS results with the TEM observations, the structure transition of the Cu-clusters from fcc to bcc is highly correlated with the preliminary precipitation...

Thermodynamic analysis of binary Fe85B15 to quinary Fe85Si2B8P4Cu1 alloys for primary crystallizations of α-Fe in nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloys

Fe-based Fe85B15, Fe84B15Cu1, Fe82Si2B15Cu1, Fe85Si2B12Cu1, and Fe85Si2B8P4Cu1 (NANOMET®) alloys were experimental and computational analyzed to clarify the features of NANOMET that exhibits high saturation magnetic flux density (Bs) nearly 1.9 T and low core loss than conventional nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloys. The X-ray diffraction analysis for ribbon specimens produced experimentally by melt spinning from melts revealed that the samples were almost formed into an amorphous single phase. Then, the as-quenched samples were analyzed with differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) experimentally for exothermic enthalpies of the primary and secondary crystallizations (ΔHx1 and ΔHx2) and their crystallization temperatures (Tx1 and Tx2), respectively. The ratio ΔHx1/ΔHx2 measured by DSC experimentally tended to be extremely high for the Fe85Si2B8P4Cu1 alloy, and this tendency was reproduced by the analysis with commercial software, Thermo-Calc, with database for Fe-based alloys, TCFE7 for Gibbs free energ...

Direct imaging of structural heterogeneity of the melt-spun Fe85.2Si2B8P4Cu0.8 alloy

A structural heterogeneity of the melt-spun Fe85.2Si2B8P4Cu0.8 alloy has been studied by spherical aberration (Cs) corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Hollow-cone illumination imaging revealed that the density of coherent scattering regions in the as-quenched Fe85.2Si2B8P4Cu0.8 alloy is much higher than that in the Fe76Si9B10P5 bulk metallic glass. According to the Cs-corrected TEM, crystalline atomic clusters, typically of ∼1 nm in diameter, are densely distributed in an amorphous matrix of Fe85.2Si2B8P4Cu0.8 alloy. Observation of four-fold and six-fold atomic arrangements of these clusters implies existence of Fe clusters with the body centered cubic structure. These Fe clusters must be responsible for the formation of ultrahigh-density α-Fe nanocrystals produced by post-annealing.