Mechanically alloyed and rapidly quenched Fe-Zr-B-Cu: Mössbauer investigation

Ferromagnetic Fe₈₆Zr₇B₆Cu₁ alloys have been prepared by both mechanical alloying of elemental powders and rapid quenching. The mechanically alloyed powders are magnetically harder than their rapidly quenched counterparts. The fractions of the main phases - an α-Fe type phase, an amorphous phase and a grain boundary region - present in the as prepared and the heat treated materials have been estimated from the spectral components in their room temperature Mössbauer spectra. The magnetic hardening of the mechanically alloyed material is likely to be due to a number of effects including: an inhomogeneous microstructure; distortions in the grain boundary region, and inhomogeneous long-range stress as well as microstrain at the atomic level.