Magnetic anneal anisotropy in amorphous alloys

The uniaxial magnetic anisotropy K
u
induced by a magnetic anneal has been determined, after stress relief, for a series of alloys given by (Fe
y
Ni
1-y
)
80
B
20
. For all of these alloys K
u
depends on anneal temperature as predicted by directional order theory. The concentration dependence of K
u
in these alloys is also consistent with directional order theory. The maximum K
u
, corrected for its temperature dependence, occurs at the composition
y = 0.5
. However, K
u
does not fall to zero at
y = 1
as predicted if directional order is assumed to arise only from Fe-Ni pair ordering. These results are interpreted as suggesting a role of the glass former, boron, in the directional ordering, perhaps as an "interstitial." The interaction energy derived from the results is negative as expected for interactions leading to precipitation. Its large value of
\approx -7.5 \times 10^{-14}
ergs corresponds to a critical temperature for precipitation of 3000 K.