X-Ray Diffraction in Situ Study of Phase Formation and Amorphous-To Transformation in FeCuNbSiB Alloys

This paper presents some reeenl results of a X-ray in situ study of phase formation process and amorphous-to-nanocrystalline transformation in FeCuNbSiB alloy. Measurements were carried out on the diffractometer Siemens-D5000 with high temperature attachment. Our experiments were performed in both isothermal and nonisothermal regimes in argon atmosphere with time periods from a minute to 3 hours and different temperatures ranging from room temperature to 900°C. The X-ray diffraction data were used to determine the amount of crystalline fraction rs temperature and vs time. Both the first amorphous halo and the (110) diffraction peak of the bcc Fe-based solid solution were fitted, after background substruction. by means of the pseudo-voigt function. The grain sizes for even annealing temperature were determined by the X-ray profile analysis and using Bruker Win-Crysize program package. The kinetics of the nanocrystallization process was investigated and the activation energy was estimated. All the obtained results were compared with those of conventional studies.