Properties of FeAl Soft Magnetic Thin Film

The magnetic properties of FeAl alloy films, deposited by evaporation in a magnetic field, were studied to explore the possibility of their use in place of Permalloy in thin film recording heads. For Al concentrations of 20 to 30 at% or less, M
s
values were large compared with those for Permalloy. Resistivity increased monotonically with Al concentration, while the hardness reached a maximum of H
v
= 1300 at 11 at% Al. It is concluded that such FeAl films may serve in place of Permalloy in thin-film heads.