Preparation and thermal properties of amorphous Fe–W–B alloy nano-powders

Amorphous Fe–W–B alloy nano-powders were obtained by chemical reduction for the first time. The powders have nearly spherical morphology with a size of 30–100 nm. The effect of the preparation condition on the composition of the powders has been studied systematically. The crystallisation temperature and activation energy of crystallisation for the powders were also studied. The thermal properties can be attributed to the strengthening of partial bonds formed by overlapping the s–p hybrid orbitals of boron atoms with the s–p–d orbitals of iron and tungsten atoms.