Abstract
A variety of metal oxides were coated by sol-gel process from their metal alkoxides on the ribbons of Co-based and Fe-based amorphous alloys, and the effects of surface oxide coating on the magnetic properties of the alloy are investigated. The core loss is found to be reduced significantly by the oxide coating, the loss reduction becoming more prominent at higher frequencies. The shape of the hystersis loop is also dependent upon the kind of the coated metal oxide. The coatings of MgO, SiO2, MgO·SiO2 and MgO·Al2O3 induce tensile stress into the Fe-based ribbon whereas those of BaO, Al2O3, CaO·Al2O3, SrO·Al2O3 and BaO·Al2O3 induce compressive stress. These results may be explained by the modification of domain structures via magnetoelastic interactions with the shrinkage stress induced by the sol-gel coating.