Effect of thermal aging on the Néel temperature of a Fe–Cr–Ni–Mo alloy

Abstract

Numerous previous investigations on the magnetic properties of Fe–Cr–Ni or similar alloys show that the Néel temperature of this class of material is usually in the range 20–40 K and never exceeds 60 K. In this paper, we report on the discovery that the Ne’el temperature of a Fe–Cr–Ni–Mo alloy can be substantially increased to approximately 80–100 K by long-term thermal aging at 800 °C and above. This discovery has raised many questions on the detailed mechanism of magnetic transition on this class of material and is expected to open up a new line of investigation for researchers in this field.