Patent ID: 8858739

Claim:
A method of forming a micro-wire, comprising: heating metal feedstock to a liquid state within a glass tube, wherein said metal feedstock includes an iron based glass forming alloy wherein said iron based alloy consists of: iron present in the range of 43 atomic percent to 68 atomic percent, boron present in the range of 12 atomic percent to 17 atomic percent, optionally carbon present in the range of 1.5 atomic percent to 5 atomic percent, silicon present in the range of 0.4 atomic percent to 4 atomic percent, nickel present in the range of 16 atomic percent to 17 atomic percent, and cobalt optionally present in the range of 2 atomic percent to 21 atomic percent; providing an inert negative pressure environment by a pressure control system including a vacuum pump and a gas supply to the interior of said glass tube; drawing down said glass tube containing said metal feedstock; and cooling said metal feedstock in said glass tube with a brine solution at a rate sufficient to form a wire exhibiting nanocrystalline microstructures present in the range of 2 to 90 percent by volume in a glass matrix and said nanocrystalline microstructure are from 1 nm to 20 nm in size.