The effect of structural changes on magnetic permeability of amorphous powder Ni<inf>80</inf>Co<inf>20</inf>

Abstract

The structural changes of Ni80Co20 amorphous powder were tested during heating. The alloy was obtained by electrolysis from ammonia solution sulfate of cobalt and nickel on the titanium cathode. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method was used to detect that the crystallization process of powder occured in two stages with crystallization peaks temperatures of the first stage at 690 K and of the second stage at 790 K. The effect of structural relaxation and crystallization of powder on magnetic properties was predicted by measurement of the relative magnetic permeability change in isothermal and nonisothermal conditions. On the basis of the time change of relative magnetic permeability at a defined temperature in the temperature range of the first and second crystallization peak on the thermogram, the kinetics of crystallization was defined. It was predicted, that in the initial time interval, in the range of the first crystallization peak, the rate of crystallization is determined by the rate of nucleation of the amorphous part of the powder. However, in the second time interval, the crystallization rate is determined by the rate of diffusion. In the range of the second peak, in the beginning the rate of crystal growth is determined by activation energy of the atom pass from smaller to bigger crystal grain. In second time interval, the rate of crystal grain growth is determined by the diffusion rate of atoms to the location of integration into bigger crystal grains. For all processes which determine the rate of crystallization in temperature ranges of both crystallization peaks, the Arrhenius temperature dependence of rate for those processes is obtained. The relative magnetic permeability of crystallized powder at 873 K, is smaller for about 30 % than the relative magnetic permeability of fresh powder at room temperature. However, structurally relaxed powder at 573 K has an about 22 % larger magnetic permeability than the same fresh powder at room temperature.