Effects of sintering temperature on microstructure and property evolution of Fe81Cu2Nb3Si14 soft magnetic materials fabricated from amorphous melt-spun ribbons by spark plasma sintering technique

Bulk Fe81Cu2Nb3Si14 soft magnetic materials were fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) of amorphous powder, which was prepared by ball milling of melt-spun ribbons. Effects of sintering temperature on the evolution of microstructure and related properties were systematically investigated. Results show that the as-milled powders exhibit similar microstructure and thermal property in comparison with the original melt-spun ribbons. With an increase in the sintering temperature, the relative density, microhardness and saturation magnetization of the sintered samples improved obviously, but the coercive force decreased at the beginning and then increased with the increase of sintering temperature. The sintered samples exhibit typical soft magnetic characteristic. The desirable soft magnetic property of the sintered samples was achieved by SPS at 630 °C. Meanwhile, microstructure and densification behaviors of the sintered samples were also investigated.