Preparation of Quasi-Ternary Fe-P-C Bulk Metallic Glass Using Industrial Raw Materials with the Help of Fluxing Technique

Bulk quasi-ternary Fe₈₀P₁₃C₇ (the real composition is Fe_79.4Si_1.0P_12.8C_6.8) glassy rod alloy with the maximum diameter of 1.0 mm was prepared by combining fluxing treatment and J-quenching technique using industrial cast iron and Fe-P alloys as raw materials. The result shows that the present Fe-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) exhibits good soft magnetic and mechanical properties with a high saturation magnetization of 1.43 T, a low coercivity of 7.2 A m^-1 (for as-cast melt-spun glassy ribbon) and a high fracture strength over 2.75 GPa. The effects of fluxing treatment on the glass-forming ability (GFA), thermal stability, and magnetic properties of the present Fe-based amorphous alloy fabricated using industrial raw materials have also been investigated. It is indicated that the GFA of the present Fe-based alloy prepared using industrial raw materials is greatly improved through fluxing treatment, which should be attributed to the effective elimination of the impurities in alloy. In addition, soft magnetic properties of the present Fe-based amorphous alloy can be significantly improved by fluxing treatment, and the melt-spun glassy ribbon obtained from the fluxed mother alloy has a lower coercivity and higher Curie temperature compared with the melt-spun glassy ribbon obtained from un-fluxed mother alloy. The improvement in soft magnetic properties should be attributed to the purification of the master alloy through fluxing treatment, which results in more uniform atomic arrangement structure in the produced amorphous alloy.