Annealing of amorphous Sm5Fe17 melt-spun ribbon

An amorphous Sm5Fe17 melt-spun ribbon was annealed under various conditions to obtain the metastable Sm5Fe17 phase. The Sm5Fe17 phase could be obtained by annealing at temperatures between 873 K and 973 K for 0.1-1 h. However, the annealed specimens contained other phases such as the SmFe2 and SmFe3 phases depending on the annealing conditions. It was found that the specimen annealed at 873 K for 1 h consisted mostly of the Sm5Fe17 phase. The Sm5Fe17 phase could also be obtained by annealing the amorphous Sm5Fe17 melt-spun ribbon at 1073 K for 0. 1 h or 0.3 h, but annealing at that temperature for 1 h resulted in decomposition of the metastable Sm5Fe17 phase and formed the equilibrium Sm2Fe17 and SmFe3 phases.