The effect of heat treatment on the phase constitution and magnetic properties of Pr₉Fe₆₀Co₁₃Zr₁Ti₃B₁₄ alloy ribbons

Abstract Fully amorphous ribbon samples of the alloy Pr₉Fe₆₀Co₁₃Zr₁Ti₃B₁₄ were produced by the melt‐spinning technique under an Ar atmosphere. In the as‐cast state, the samples were soft magnetic, with a coercivity _JH_c of ∼10 A/m and saturation magnetization J_r of ∼1 T. Subsequent annealing at various temperatures T_a (from 903 to 973 K for 10 min) resulted in an evolution of the phase constitution together with a significant change of their magnetic properties. X‐ray diffractometry (XRD) revealed the presence of the hard magnetic Pr₂(Fe,Co)₁₄B phase, precipitated during annealing. However, quantitative analysis of Mössbauer spectra for the alloy showed a multiphase constitution with a relatively low volume fraction of this crystalline phase. Furthermore, the temperature dependences of magnetization confirmed differences in the constitution of the samples annealed at various temperatures. The aim of present work was to investigate the correlation between the phase constitution and magnetic properties of the ribbon samples.