Pr 2 Fe 14 B/␣-Fe based nanocomposites have been prepared through crystallization of melt-spun amorphous Pr 7 Tb 1 Fe 85 Nb 0.5 Zr 0.5 B 6 ribbons by means of ac Joule heating while simultaneously monitoring room-temperature electrical resistance R. The R value shows a strong variation with respect to applied current I, and is closely related to the amorphous-to-nanocrystalline phase transformation. The curve of R versus I allows one to control the crystallization behavior during Joule heating and to identify the heat-treatment conditions for optimum magnetic properties. A coercivity of 550 kA/m and a maximum energy product of 128 kJ/m 3 have been obtained upon heating the amorphous ribbons at a current of 2.0 A. These properties are around 30% higher than the values of samples prepared by conventionally ͑furnace͒ annealed amorphous ribbons.

A technique for measuring interdiffusion in multilayer materials during rapid heating using X-ray reflectivity is described. In this technique the sample is bent to achieve a range of incident angles simultaneously, and the scattered intensity is recorded on a fast high-dynamic-range mixed-mode pixel array detector. Heating of the multilayer is achieved by electrical resistive heating of the silicon substrate, monitored by an infrared pyrometer. As an example, reflectivity data from Al/Ni heated at rates up to 200 K s À1 are presented. At short times the interdiffusion coefficient can be determined from the rate of decay of the reflectivity peaks, and it is shown that the activation energy for interdiffusion is consistent with a grain boundary diffusion mechanism. At longer times the simple analysis no longer applies because the evolution of the reflectivity pattern is complicated by other processes, such as nucleation and growth of intermetallic phases.