Alloy substituents for cost reduction in soft magnetic materials

Amorphous and nanocrystalline soft magnets have been investigated extensively in the past two decades. Many materials with attractive soft magnetic properties contain boron, which improves the glass formability, thermal stability and prevents undesirable grain growth. The high price of boron, however, makes the development of new soft magnetic materials and alternative synthesis routes important. We report here a synthesis of cobalt-rich alloys by substituting boron carbide for elemental boron to achieve significantly lower cost. Ribbons produced with and without boron carbide substitution were observed to exhibit comparable soft magnetic properties while the former results in 31–48% cost reduction. Extrapolating this idea to commercial VITROVAC 6025 and 6150, the cost reductions were calculated to be 56 and 50%, respectively, while both synthesis routes produced ribbons of similar soft magnetic properties. Our work here provides an attractive route to reduce the cost and increase the market competitiveness of soft magnets.