Magnetic shape-memory alloy

Magnetic field

Physics

Coercivity

Remanence

Metallurgy

Grain size

Materials science

Ferromagnetic material properties

Condensed matter physics

Annealing (glass)

Alloy

Magnetization

Magnetic anisotropy

Quantum mechanics

Ferromagnetism

Microstructure

Materials Chemistry and Physics

Immiscible Cu-Fe alloy shows great potential to be applied as soft magnetic material. In the current study, the as-solidified immiscible Cu-Fe alloys were firstly investigated to uncover the correlation between Fe content (10–40 wt%) and its corresponding microstructure evolution and magnetic properties. The present observation revealed that the increasing Fe content results in a significant change in Fe-rich dendrites morphology and grain size of Cu-Fe alloy, which should be responsible for both improvement in the saturated magnetization and coercivity of the alloy. After subsequent annealing treatment (950 °C, 4 h), a considerable amount of Fe-rich nano-particles (α-Fe) and Cu-rich phases precipitate from the Cu matrix and Fe-rich dendrite, consequently giving rise to both enhancement of saturated magnetization and coercivity. In general, it was demonstrated that the soft magnetic property of Cu-Fe alloy can be enhanced via annealing treatment with improving the saturated magnetization and slightly deteriorating coercivity. To the best of our knowledge, the as-prepared Cu-Fe alloy can exhibit an excellent soft ferromagnetic characteristic (saturated magnetization Ms 76.8216 emu/g and coercivity Hc 24.613 Oe). Additionally, the current research provides profound guidance and knowledge for tailoring magnetic properties of immiscible Cu-Fe alloy for industrial applications as a promising soft magnetic material.

A comprehensive investigation on microstructure and magnetic properties of immiscible Cu-Fe alloys with variation of Fe content