Bulk ferromagnetic glasses prepared by flux melting and water quenching

Several ferromagnetic bulk amorphous alloys of the type Fe-(Co, Cr, Mo, Ga, Sb)-P-B-C, containing between 62 and 71 at. % Fe, have been prepared in the form of 4-mm-diam rods. The glass synthesis consists of mechanically alloying the constituents, purifying the melts in B2O3 flux inside fused silica tubes, and quenching the melts at cooling rates on the order of 100 K/s. All these glasses have a large supercooled region T-x-T-g, ranging from 35 to 61 K, within which the glass can be shaped under a relatively small applied load. It is shown that the value of T-x-T-g depends strongly on the metalloid composition. These bulk metallic glasses have very low coercivity and low hysteresis losses. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)00927-4].