Progress in Materials Science 44 (1999) 291±433 Amorphous and nanocrystalline materials for applications as soft magnets Michael E. McHenry*, Matthew A. Willard, David E. Laughlin Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA Received 30 November 1998 Abstract This review seeks to summarize the recent developments in the synthesis, structural characterization, properties, and applications in the ®elds of amorphous, bulk amorphous, and nanocrystalline soft magnetic materials. Conventional physical metallurgical approaches to improving soft ferromagnetic properties have relied on the optimization of chemical and microstructural features. Within the last decade, the development and rapid increase in research of nanocrystalline materials has shown that through proper modi®cations, revolutionary contributions can be made to better materials' properties. A wide range of materials' properties are examined in this review, including: kinetics and thermodynamics, structure, microstructure, and intrinsic and extrinsic magnetic properties. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction and historical perspective ...............................300 1.1. Technical considerations ....................................302 2. Alloy design issues..............................................306 2.1. Magnetic dipole moments and magnetization......................307 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-412-268-2703; fax: +1-412-268-3113. E-mail address:
[email protected] (M.E. McHenry). 0079-6425/99/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0079-6425(99)00002-X 292 M.E. McHenry et al. / Progress in Materials Science 44 (1999) 291±433 2.2. Ferromagnetic ordering (Curie) temperatures......................310 2.3. Magnetocrystalline anisotropy and magnetostriction ................313 2.4. Magnetic domains and domain wall mobility......................315 2.5. AC magnetic response ......................................317 2.6.