Effect of C addition on the corrosion properties of amorphous Fe-based amorphous alloys

Abstract

Fe-based amorphous alloys are important materials with a high potential for commercialization by evaluating their corrosion performances. In this work, amorphous Fe[Formula: see text]Cu1Nb3Si[Formula: see text]B9 alloy was chosen as a target material to investigate the effects of the addition of C on the corrosion properties by an electrochemical method. Alloy ingots Fe[Formula: see text]Cu1Nb3Si[Formula: see text]C[Formula: see text]B[Formula: see text] (x = 0, 1, 2, 3 at.%) were prepared using an arc melting system, under argon atmosphere. Planar flow melt spinning of the alloys was carried out to obtain amorphous ribbons of the width [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]5 mm and the thickness about 30 [Formula: see text]m. Effects of the addition of C into Fe[Formula: see text]Cu1Nb3Si[Formula: see text]B9 amorphous soft magnetic alloys were investigated in acidic solutions. Studies of potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance revealed the passivation ability and corrosion resistance of the amorphous ribbons with C in the 0.1M H2SO4 media at room-temperature. The amorphous ribbons showed excellent corrosion resistance with formation of a stable passive film. It can be obviously observed that the addition of C significantly improves the corrosion resistance.