Magnetoelastic behavior of glass-covered amorphous ferromagnetic microwire

Particular aspects concerning the magnetoelastic behavior of an Fe-rich glass-covered amorphous ferromagnetic microwire (diameter about 20 μm) are reported about its as-prepared state as well as after various heating treatments. The main feature of such behavior is that related with the bistable behavior exhibited by this microwire. Magnetization process takes place by a single and large Barkhausen jump at a given applied field. For the as-prepared material, the value of this switching field (H* ≈ 112 Am^-1) is about one order of magnitude larger than that reported for Fe-rich amorphous wires with diameter of about 125 μm (H* ≈ 8 Am^-1). The effect of the thermal treatment as well as the stress dependence of H* for as-obtained and treated microwire are also reported and discussed in terms of the stress distribution within the microwire.