Analysis of crystallization kinetics of sputtered SmCo based permanent magnetic films

Abstract Crystallization kinetics of the sputtered SmCo based permanent magnetic films was investigated by differential scanning calorimeter, x-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscope methods. The results show that the apparent activation energy for crystallization is observed as 173.7 kJ/mol, and the local activation energy for crystallization decreases with increasing crystal phase transformation fraction in non-isothermal crystallization. For isothermal crystallization, the apparent activation energy for crystallization is 159.8 kJ/mol. The local activation energy for crystallization exhibits non-monotonic dependence on the crystal phase transformation fraction. The crystallization mechanism is obtained from the investigation of Avrami exponent and microstructure.