Tuning the giant magnetoimpedance response of a glass-coated microwire reinforced polymer by in-situ laser annealing

The ability to modify the giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) effect in amorphous glass-coated ferromagnetic Co-based microwire reinforced polymer via laser irradiation is presented. Through in-situ laser annealing of microwires embedded into a polymer matrix, a 25 % improvement in the GMI response is demonstrated after only 4.9 min of annealing. This improvement is compared to a conventional oven anneal technique, requiring an hour of oven annealing, subsequent sample cooling and polymer casting. This unique in-situ technique offers a novel and expedient path toward tailorable multi-functional composites in the areas of tunable electromagnetic shielding, structurally integrated antennas and magnetic sensors. [Display omitted] •Possible to perform an in-situ laser anneal on polymer embedded glass-coated ferromagnetic microwires.•In-situ laser annealing reduces composite post-processing time by up to 12 times.•Giant magnetoimpedance improvement by in-situ laser annealing comparative to hour-long oven anneal.•Adoption of this technique allows for efficient development of multi-functional composites with microwire inclusions.