ABSTRACT
I.INTRODUCTION Thedevelopmentofsoftmagneticapplicationsofrapidlysolidifiedalloysisa classicalexampleofthedevelopmentofanexperimentaltechnology(rapidsolidification)precedingtheconceptoftheeventualcommercialapplicationsbyseveral years.Thepossibilityofferromagnetisminamorphoussystemswaspredictedby Gubanovin1960[1],thesameyearthatthefirstrapidlysolidifiedamorphousalloys werereportedbyPolDuwez'sgroupatCaltech[2].Thefirstferromagneticrapidly solidifiedamorphousalloy,Fe80P13C7,wasreportedbythatsamegroupin1967 [3].Effortstodeveloprapidlysolidifiedalloysforcommercialapplicationsbegan atAllied-Signal,Inc.(thenAlliedChemicalCorp.)in1971butconcentratedon mechanicalandstrengthapplications.Thesoftmagneticpropertiesofthefirst commercialmetallicglass,METGLAS*alloy2826,Fe,wNi40P14B6,whichwasintroducedin1973,werenotrecognizeduntilmeasurementsmadebyGraham's groupattheUniversityofPennsylvaniain1974[4].Theslowrateofdevelopment ofsoftmagneticapplicationsofrapidlysolidifiedalloysisunderstandablewhen consideringthemanyprecursorytechnologiesthatneededtobedeveloped.A discussionofalloyandcastingtechnologydevelopmentforvariousrapidlysolidified softmagneticalloys(RSSMA)appearsinotherchaptersofthisbookandinreviews andotherbooks[5-9].InthischapterIwilldiscusshowthesedevelopmentsallowed varioussoftmagneticapplicationstobedeveloped.
