Effect of Annealing on the Magnetic Properties of Co₂MnSi-Based Heusler Alloy Glass-Coated Microwires

Abstract

In the current study, we concentrated on the influence of annealing on the magnetic behavior of Co2MnSi-based Heusler microwires. We set the annealing temperature at 1023 K for 2 h, as the sample did not show any significant changes in the magnetic properties at lower temperatures, while annealing at temperatures above 1023 K damages the glass coating. Strong in-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy parallel to the microwire axis was evident in the magnetic behavior at room temperature for as-prepared and annealed samples. The coercivity of the annealed sample was four times higher than that of the as-prepared sample across a wide range of measuring temperatures. Both annealed and as-prepared samples exhibit quite stable coercivity behavior with temperature, which may have interesting applications. The an nealed sample did not exhibit magnetic saturation for M-H loops measured below 50 K. Sharp irreversible magnetic behavior has been detected for annealed samples at a blocking temperature of 220 K; at the same time, the blocking temperature for the as-prepared sample was 150 K. The strong internal mechanical stress induced during the fabrication of Co2MnSi microwires in addition to the internal stress relaxation caused by the annealing induced the onset of magnetic phases resulting in unusual and irreversible magnetic behavior.

Keywords

• Heusler alloys
• glass-coated microwires
• magnetic properties
• annealing
• blocking temperature