Fabrication of large-size Fe-based glassy cores with good soft magnetic properties by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

Glassy Fe65Co10Ga5P12C4B4 alloy powders with a large supercooled liquid region of 50 K before crystallization were synthesized in the particle size range below 125 μm by Ar gas atomization. With the aim of developing a large-size Fe-based glassy core with good soft magnetic properties, the consolidation method of spark plasma sintering was applied to the Fe65Co10Ga5P12C4B4 glassy powders. The existence of the supercooled liquid region enabled us to form a large-size glassy alloy disc 20 mm in diameter and 5 mm in thickness with a high relative density of 99.7% at the glass-transition temperature of 723 K and under the external applied pressure of 300 MPa. The resulting glassy core of 18 mm in outer diameter, 10 mm in inner diameter, and 4 mm in thickness exhibits good soft magnetic properties: 1.20 T for saturation magnetization, 6 A/m for coercive force, and 8900 for maximum permeability. The good soft magnetic properties of the Fe-based bulk glassy core are attributed to the combination of the high relative density and the maintenance of the single glassy structure.