(Digital Presentation) Microstructure, Corrosion Resistance, and Magnetic Properties of Amorphous Alloy Co75Si15Fe5Cr4,5Al0,5 before and after Corrosion
Authors: Kuznetsova Irina , Lebedeva Olga , Perova Natalia , Kultin Dmitry , Chernavskii Petr , Perov Nikolai , Kustov Leonid 
Published: September 2023

Cobalt-based Amorphous Metal Alloys (AMA) can be used as soft magnetic materials in various magnetic devices due to the low value of the natural crystalline magnetic anisotropy. The addition of non-metallic components (Si, B) does not adversely affect the magnetic properties. On the contrary, AMA have high magnetic permeability at low values of coercive force and greater resistance to corrosion compared to crystalline ones.

The required important parameters for corrosion description are: the concentration of chloride-ions, the microstructure (especially surface heterogeneity) and the composition of the oxide layer [1]. It was determined that the initial AMA Co75Si15Fe5Cr4.5Al0.5 possesses the low coercive force 0.38 A/m. The modification of the alloy surface with nanostructures by anodizing at different current densities (i) and times in the BmimBF4 ionic liquid (IL) does not affect the value of the coercive force, but its resistance to corrosion in a chloride solution increases. The coercive force increases after corrosion, which may be due to a change in surface morphology.

The domain structures of the surface modified with nanostructures and initial alloys are different. After excerption at a constant (i) in IL, the domain structure of the surface consists of relatively large uniformly magnetized regions (Fig. 1a). The coercive force of the sample practically does not change compared to the initial sample.

The surface domains after corrosion are broken into smaller ones, while the predominant orientation changes its direction (Fig.1 b). The change in the surface domain structure is accompanied by a significant increase in the coercive force (by a factor of 10), although the maximum magnetic permeability (the slope of the hysteresis loops) does not change.

The EIS-tests (electrical impedance spectroscopy) were performed at -200 mV (Ag/AgCl) in the frequency range of 50,000 to 0.01 Hz and an oscillation amplitude of 20 mA in Ringer's solution (Fig.1 c, d) to compare the charge transfer kinetics for modified with nanostructures and initial samples. The simulated equivalent circuit included the values of the solution resistance Rs (22 Ω), the value of the constant phase element CPE associated with the double layer capacity, including the capacitance of the modified surface layer, and Rp is the charge transfer resistance across the interface. The capacity of the double layer is higher for the modified sample (4.28*10-5 Ohm-1*cN vs. 1.88*10-5 Ом-1*сN ) and the resistance value of the material has hardly changed (18000±13.5% Ohm for modified and 15500±3.5% Ohm for unmodified). The values of the phase angle (0.78 - modified and 0.88 - unmodified) indicate a greater heterogeneity of the charge distribution at the boundaries of the double layer for the modified surface of the alloy.

So, surface modification affects the corrosion resistance, while it has little effect on the parameters of hysteresis loops, what is very important in practical applications.

Nyby, C., Guo, X., Saal, J. E., Chien, S.-C., Gerard, A. Y., Ke, H., Frankel, G. S. (2021). Electrochemical metrics for corrosion resistant alloys. Scientific Data, 8(1).doi:10.1038/s41597-021-00840-y

Figure 1