Claims
- 1. A metallic alloy composed of iron, boron, silicon, and carbon, which is at least about 70% amorphous, and which consists essentially of the composition Fe.sub.a B.sub.b Si.sub.c C.sub.d, wherein "a"-"d" are in atomic percent, the sum of "a", "b", "c", and "d" equals 100, "a" ranges from about 77 to 80, "b" ranges from about 7 to 11.5, "c" ranges from about 3 to 12, and "d" ranges from about 2 to 6, with the proviso that when "c" is greater than 7.5 "d" is at least about 4, said alloy having up to about 0.5 atomic percent of impurities and having a crystallization temperature of at least 500.degree. C.
- 2. The metallic alloy of claim 1 which is at least about 90% amorphous.
- 3. The metallic alloy of claim 1 which is essentially 100% amorphous.
- 4. The metallic alloy of claim 1 wherein the impurity content is no greater than 0.3 atomic percent.
- 5. The metallic alloy of claim 4 which is essentially 100% amorphous.
- 6. The metallic alloy of claim 1 having a composition wherein "a" ranges from about 78 to 80 and "b" ranges from about 8 to 11.
- 7. The metallic alloy of claim 6 which is at least about 90% amorphous.
- 8. The metallic alloy of claim 6 which is essentially 100% amorphous.
- 9. The metallic alloy of claim 6 wherein the impurity content is no greater than 0.3 atomic percent.
- 10. The metallic alloy of claim 9 which is essentially 100% amorphous.
- 11. The metallic alloy of claim 6, having a composition wherein "a" ranges from about 79 to 80, "b" ranges from about 8.5 to 10.5, and "d" ranges from about 3 to 4.5.
- 12. The metallic alloy of claim 11 which is essentially 100% amorphous.
- 13. The metallic alloy of claim 11 wherein the impurity content is no greater than 0.3 atomic percent.
- 14. The metallic alloy of claim 13 which is essentially 100% amorphous.
- 15. The metallic alloy of claim 1, having the composition Fe.sub.79.5 B.sub.9.25 Si.sub.7.5 C.sub.3.75, Fe.sub.79 B.sub.8.5 Si.sub.8.5 C.sub.4, Fe.sub.79.1 B.sub.8.9 Si.sub.8 C.sub.4, or Fe.sub.79.7 B.sub.9.1 Si.sub.7.2 C.sub.4.0.
- 16. The metallic alloy of claim 14, having the composition Fe.sub.79.5 B.sub.9.25 Si.sub.7.5 C.sub.3.75, Fe.sub.79 B.sub.8.5 Si.sub.8.5 C.sub.4, Fe.sub.79.1 B.sub.8.9 Si.sub.8 C.sub.4, or Fe.sub.79.7 B.sub.9.1 Si.sub.7.2 C.sub.4.0.
- 17. The metallic alloy of claim 11, having a composition wherein "c" is at least about 6.5.
- 18. The metallic alloy of claim 1, said alloy having been made by a process comprising the step of supplying at least a portion of the boron content of said allvy from ferroboron.
- 19. The metallic alloy of claim 18, said ferroboron having been made by a carbothermic reduction process.
- 20. The metallic alloy of claim 1, wherein the Curie temperature is at least about 360.degree. C., and the saturation magnetization corresponds to a magnetic moment of at least about 165 emu/g.
- 21. The metallic alloy of claim 20 wherein said Curie temperature is at least about 380.degree. C.
- 22. The metallic alloy of claim 1, in which a core loss not greater than about 0.35 W/kg and an exciting power value riot greater than about 1 VA/kg are obtained, when measured at 25.degree. C., 60 Hz and 1.4 T, after the alloy has been annealed.
- 23. The metallic alloy of claim 6, in which a core loss not greater than about 0.28 W/kg and an exciting power value not greater than about 1 VA/kg are obtained, when measured at 25.degree. C., 60 Hz and 1.4 T, after the alloy has been annealed.
- 24. The metallic alloy of claim 11, in which a core loss not greater than about 0.2 W/kg and an exciting power value not greater than about 0.6 VA/kg are obtained, when measured at 25.degree. C., 60 Hz and 1.4 T, after the alloy has been annealed.
- 25. A magnetic core comprising metallic strip formed of the alloy of claim 1, wherein the alloy is at least about 90% amorphous.
- 26. The magnetic core of claim 25, in which a core loss not greater than about 0.35 W/kg and an exciting power value not greater than about 1 VA/kg are obtained, when measured at 25.degree. C., 60 Hz and 1.4 T.
- 27. The magnetic core of claim 26, in which a core loss not greater than about 0.3 W/kg and an exciting power value not greater than about 1 VA/kg are obtained, when measured at 25.degree. C., 60 Hz, and 1.4 T.
- 28. The magnetic core of claim 27, in which a core loss not greater than about 0.27 W/kg and an exciting power value not greater than about 0.9 VA/kg are obtained, when measured at 25.degree. C., 60 Hz, and 1.4 T.
- 29. The magnetic core of claim 28, said alloy having the composition Fe.sub.79.7 B.sub.9.1 Si.sub.7.2 C.sub.4.0.
- 30. A gapped magnetic core comprising metallic strip formed of the alloy of claim 1, wherein the alloy is at least about 90% amorphous.
- 31. An article of manufacture comprising an alloy of claim 1.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/647,151, filed May 9, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,518 which, in turn, is a file-wrapper continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/246,393, filed May 20, 1994 now abandoned, which, in turn, is a file-wrapper continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 996,288, filed Dec. 23, 1992 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (12)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0060660 |
Sep 1982 |
EPX |
55-152150 |
Nov 1980 |
JPX |
58-34162 |
Feb 1983 |
JPX |
58-42751 |
Mar 1983 |
JPX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
Ramanan, "Metallic Glasses in Distribution Transformer Applications: An Update" J. Mater. Eng., 13, (1991) pp. 119-127. |
Luborsky et al., "The Fe-B-C Termary Amorphous Alloys", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. Mag-16, No. 3, May (1980). |
Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
246393 |
May 1994 |
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Parent |
996288 |
Dec 1992 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
647151 |
May 1996 |
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