A comprehensive investigation on microstructure and magnetic properties of immiscible Cu-Fe alloys with variation of Fe content

Abstract Immiscible Cu-Fe alloy shows great potential to be applied as soft magnetic material. In the current study, the as-solidified immiscible Cu-Fe alloys were firstly investigated to uncover the correlation between Fe content (10∼40 wt.%) and its corresponding microstructure evolution and magnetic properties. The present observation revealed that the increasing Fe content results in a significant change in Fe-rich dendrites morphology and grain size of Cu-Fe alloy, which should be responsible for both improvement in the saturated magnetization and coercivity of the alloy. After subsequent annealing treatment (950 °C, 4 h), a considerable amount of Fe-rich nano-particles (α-Fe) and Cu-rich phases precipitate from the Cu matrix and Fe-rich dendrite, consequently giving rise to both enhancement of saturated magnetization and coercivity. In general, it was demonstrated that the soft magnetic property of Cu-Fe alloy can be enhanced via annealing treatment with improving the saturated magnetization and slightly deteriorating coercivity. To the best of our knowledge, the as-prepared Cu-Fe alloy can exhibit an excellent soft ferromagnetic characteristic (saturated magnetization Ms 76.8216 emu/g and coercivity Hc 24.613 Oe). Additionally, the current research provides profound guidance and knowledge for tailoring magnetic properties of immiscible Cu-Fe alloy for industrial applications as a promising soft magnetic material.