Determination of the onset of crystallization of amorphous materials using different methods

On as-cast ribbons of the system FexCo85−xB15 (x = 85, 73, 64, 55, 42.5, 21, 8) and also Co80B20, electrical resistivity and a.c.-susceptibility measurements between room temperature and the crystallization temperature were performed in order to study the crystallization behaviour. These data were compared with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results. Generally, a two-step crystallization process was observed. The critical temperatures as determined from ρ (T) and χ (T) measurements lie below that obtained from DSC data. The activation energies determined from Kissinger plots using data from the different methods agree within the experimental errors.