LASER ABLATION AND MECHANICAL SCRIBING IN THE AMORPHOUS-ALLOYS VAC-6030 AND METGLAS 2605-SC

Mechanical or laser scribing has been applied to VAC6030 and METGLAS 2605 SC to assess the possibility of optimising their properties for magnetic switching applications. The work indicates that laser scribing has no beneficial effect on the magnetic properties of either material in contrast to other reported works. No change was observed for VAC 6030 whilst METGLAS 2605 SC became magnetically harder. It is proposed that the effect of laser scribing on METGLAS 2605 SC is stress related. Mechanical scribing perpendicular to the casting direction gave similar results to the laser work, supporting the hypothesis of laser ablation being a purely stress effect. Modification of surface morphology by chemical etching has shown no indication of enhanced properties.