The effect of melt temperature on the crystallization process of the rapidly quenched Fe74B16Si9Ni1 alloy

The crystallization process of amorphous Fe74B16Si9Ni1 was studied by means of Xray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and resistivity measurements. It was found experimentally, that superheating the melt above liquidus results in a lowering of activation energy for crystallization and in a modification of the crystallization mechanism. On the first crystallization stage some orthorhombic Fe3B formed additionally to Fe3B (tetr) and bcc solid solution of silicon in iron. Second stage realized mainly by the formation of metastable Fe3B (tetr) and alpha-Fe(Si) instead of Fe2B (tetr) and alpha-Fe(Si). The observed changes in the crystallization behavior have been proposed as being linked with the structural transformation in the initial liquid alloy at 1400 degrees C and structural inheritance during its rapid quenching.