Effects of oxygen on thermal behavior and magnetic properties of FePC amorphous alloy

Effects of oxygen on thermal behavior and magnetic properties of Fe80P13C7 amorphous alloy were investigated in detail. Microstructures and thermal analysis revealed that crystallization behavior of oxygen-contained alloy was more sensitive to the temperature. With oxygen increasing, the saturation magnetization (B-s) of alloy increased firstly and then dropped, and the maximum value of 1.62 T was achieved with 241 ppm oxygen. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy result combined with atomic reconstruction model unveiled that oxygen only occupied one side of the C-centered clusters, and with oxygen doping, the breakage of Fe-C bonds triggered the more Fe-Fe and Fe-O bonds formed, and the competitive dominance of Fe-Fe supported an enhanced B-s of oxygen-contained alloy. Moreover, the domain patterns were analyzed to disclose the coercivity changes of relaxed alloy. This work has important theoretical significance for re-understanding the role of oxygen in the amorphous alloy and its influence on performance.