Effects of surface treatment and thinning on magnetic properties of rapidly quenched amorphous alloy ribbons

Abstract

The magnetization curves and hysteresis loops of rapidly quenched transition‐metal–glass‐former amorphous ribbons of various compositions were measured as they were chemically thinned, down to about 10% of their original thickness. The specific saturation moment did not change showing that the ribbons are chemically homogeneous through their thickness. In general, the approach to saturation of as‐cast ribbons remained remarkably constant. Although annealing experiments indicate that the approach to saturation is controlled by stresses, they are not distributed in such a way that they are affected by thinning of the sample. The coercive force initially changed rapidly, either up or down, with decreasing thickness, then increased linearly with reciprocal thickness. The results can be simply interpreted in terms of surface and volume pinning.