Amorphous and nanocrystalline materials for applications as soft magnets

This review seeks to summarize the recent developments in the synthesis, structural characterization, properties, and applications in the ®elds of amorphous, bulk amorphous, and nanocrystalline soft magnetic materials. Conventional physical metallurgical approaches to improving soft ferromagnetic properties have relied on the optimization of chemical and microstructural features. Within the last decade, the development and rapid increase in research of nanocrystalline materials has shown that through proper modi®cations, revolutionary contributions can be made to better materials' properties. A wide range of materials' properties are examined in this review, including: kinetics and thermodynamics, structure, microstructure, and intrinsic and extrinsic magnetic properties. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.