Multiphase materials based on the Fe73.9Si15.5Cu1Nb3B6.6 alloy obtained by dry and wet high-energy ball milling processes

[EN] Novel hybrid materials based on the soft nanocrystalline FeSiCuNbB alloy are designed in this work with the purpose of reducing its particle size and developing different compositional, structural, and magnetic properties depending on the high-energy ball milling time and route employed. Innovative processes combining mixer, vibratory and planetary motions at the same time are carried out under a dry and a wet route, obtaining reduced sub-micron particle size distributions after 2 h of milling. The established approach takes advantage of the nature of amorphous materials to promote the formation of different hybrid compounds and it is supported by the high virulence of the milling process performed at 2000 rpm. On the one hand, the results obtained by the dry route show a structural and magnetic evolution dominated by the presence of ferromagnetic α-FeSi nanocrystals. On the other hand, the wet approach that is supported by glycerol evidences the destruction of the α-FeSi with the milling time in favor of the non-magnetic β-FeSi phase, obtaining a new functionality for the FeSiCuNbB alloy. Their properties as soft magnetic alloys are evaluated and compared depending on the followed route, opening up a new physicochemical method in the development of multiphase compounds with potential applications. With this work, a controlled formation of different hybrid compounds is achieved, revealing an effective mechanism to introduce functional materials with different properties embedded in an amorphous ferromagnetic matrix.The authors acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Economy and Competitiveness for financing the project MAT2015-65445-C2-1-R, MAT2017-86450-C4-1-R, MAT2015-67557-C2-1-P, RTI2018-095303-A-C52, and , the Comunidad de Madrid by S2013/MIT-2850 NANOFRONTMAG, and the European Commission under H2020 frame by AMPHIBIAN Project ID: 720853. In addition, the authors thank for the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) and The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) under Grant no. PIE 2010-6OE-013. A. S. acknowledges the financial support from the Comunidad de Madrid for an “Atracción de Talento Investigador” contract (no. 2017-t2/IND5395