Magnetic transition in nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloys analyzed via ac inductive techniques

The magnetic transition in a FeSiBCuNb nanocrystalline alloy, associated with the decoupling of ferromagnetic crystallites around the Curie point of the residual amorphous matrix, is analyzed in this work through the temperature dependence of the ac axial magnetic permeability and impedance of the samples. The temperature dependence of both complex magnitudes presents a maximum in the irreversible contribution at a certain transition temperature. While for low values of the exciting ac magnetic field the transition temperature lies below the Curie temperature of the amorphous phase, a shift above this Curie point is observed increasing the amplitude of the applied ac magnetic field. The detected field dependence is interpreted taking into account the ac nature of the inductive characterization techniques and the actual temperature dependence of the coercivity of the samples