The effect of niobium on glass-formation ability and soft magnetic properties were studied in Fe-Gd-B glassy alloys. The glassy alloys exhibited high glass-formation ability when the element of Nb was added. Bulk glassy rod (Fe0.87Co0.13)68.5Gd3.5Nb3B25 with a diameter up to 3 mm was produced by copper mold casting. The size of the atom might play an important role in increasing glass-formation ability. The coercive force of glassy (Fe0.87Co0.13)71.5-xGd3.5NbxB25 (x=1.2, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4) alloys decreased after the addition of niobium element and was in the range of 1.5-2.9 A/m. The permeability spectrum of (Fe0.87Co0.13)70.3Gd3.5Nb1.5B25 glassy ribbon showed that the relaxation fre- quency (f0) was 6.1 MHz.
