The magnetization reversal behaviour for SmCo6.8Zr0.2 and SmCo6.8Zr0.2/α-（Fe,Co） nanocrystalline magnets at low temperature

This paper reports that the SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 nanocrystalline permanent magnets and SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 /α-(Fe,Co) nanocomposite permanent magnets are successfully produced by mechanical alloying and subsequently annealing at 700 C for 10 minutes.The x-ray diffraction results show that the phase structure of SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 nanocrystalline permanent magnets is composed of SmCo 7 phase and SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 /α-(Fe,Co) nanocomposite permanent magnets is composed of SmCo 7 and α-(Fe,Co) phases.The mechanism of magnetization reversal is mainly controlled by inhomogeneous domain wall pinning in SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 and SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 /α-(Fe,Co) magnets.The inter-grain exchange interaction at low temperature is investigated,which shows that the inter-grain exchange interaction of SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 /α-(Fe,Co) magnets increases greatly by the decrease of the measured temperature.According to Δm irr-H/H cj,Δm rev-H/H cj and χ irr-H/H cj curves at room temperature and 100 K,the changes of irreversible and reversible magnetization behaviours of SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 and SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 /α-(Fe,Co) magnets with the decreasing temperature are analysed in detail.The magnetic viscosity and the activation volume of SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 and SmCo 6.8 Zr 0.2 /α-(Fe,Co) magnets at different temperatures are also studied.     

晶界扩散磁体性能及热场环境下磁畴演变规律的研究

采用Tb₄O₇作为扩散源对N50磁体进行晶界扩散处理,平行于取向的面扩散后磁体的H_cj增加了8.83 kOe,达到22.74 kOe,垂直于取向的面扩散后磁体的H_cj增加了8.86 kOe,达到22.77 kOe。通过对磁体的不同位置的H_cj进行分析,在距表层500～750μm处获得最大H_cj为26.77kOe。对磁体的Tb,Nd和O元素的分布进行分析,发现在表层有较高的O富集,进一步分析发现磁体中的O含量对磁体的微观结构,磁体性能和热稳定性产生了影响,得出控制磁体的O含量是取得晶界扩散良好效果的关键因素。     

Phase constitution and microstructure of Ce–Fe–B strip-casting alloy

The strip-casting technique plays an important role in fabricating high coercivity sintered magnet. In this paper, we investigate the phase constitution and the microstructure of rapidly solidified Ce-Fe-B alloy fabricated by strip-casting. We find that the Ce2FelgB phase coexists with Fe, Fe2B, and CeFe2 phases in the Ce-Fe-B strips. The eutectic stucture consisting of Fe and Fe2B is encased in Ce2Fe14B grains, which is blocked by the CeFe2 grains at triple junctions, indicating that the microstructure of Ce-Fe-B strip is characteristic of a peritectic solidification. Thermal analysis indicates that the large supercooling of Ce2Fe14B results in the residual Fe and Fe2B. The microstructural optimization in Ce-Fe-B strips without Fe and Fe2B could be achieved by a heat treatment of 1000 ℃.     

Coercivity enhancement of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets by grain boundary diffusion with Pr80-xAlxCu20 alloys

A grain boundary diffusion (GBD) process with Pr_80-xAl_xCu₂₀ (x = 0, 10, 15, 20) low melting point alloys was applied to commercial 42M sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets. The best coercivity enhancement of a diffused magnet was for the Pr₆₅Al₁₅Cu₂₀ GBD magnet, from 16.38 kOe to 22.38 kOe. Microstructural investigations indicated that increase in the Al content in the diffusion source can form a continuous grain boundary (GB) phase, optimizing the microstructure to enhance the coercivity. The coercivity enhancement is mainly due to the formation of a continuous GB phase to separate the main phase grains. Exchange decoupling between the adjacent main phase grains is enhanced after the GBD process. Meanwhile, the introduction of Al can effectively promote the infiltration of Pr into the magnet, which increases the diffusion rate of rare-earth elements within a certain range. This work provides a feasible method to enhance coercivity and reduce the use of rare-earth resources by partial replacement of rare-earth elements with non-rare-earth elements in the diffusion source.     

Effect of exchange coupling on magnetic property in Sm–Co/α-Fe layered system

The hysteresis loops as well as the spin distributions of Sm–Co/α-Fe bilayers have been investigated by both threedimensional(3D) and one-dimensional(1D) micromagnetic calculations, focusing on the effect of the interface exchange coupling under various soft layer thicknesses t~s. The exchange coupling coefficient Ahsbetween the hard and soft layers varies from 1.8 × 10~(-6)erg/cm to 0.45 × 10~(-6)erg/cm, while the soft layer thickness increases from 2 nm to 10 nm. As the exchange coupling decreases, the squareness of the loop gradually deteriorates, both pinning and coercive fields rise up monotonically, and the nucleation field goes down. On the other hand, an increment of the soft layer thickness leads to a significant drop of the nucleation field, the deterioration of the hysteresis loop squareness, and an increase of the remanence. The simulated loops based on the 3D and 1D methods are consistent with each other and in good agreement with the measured loops for Sm–Co/α-Fe multilayers.     

Fine-grained NdFeB magnets prepared by low temperature pre-sintering and subsequent hot pressing

Fine-grained Nd10.79Pr2.8Al0.4B7.72Fe78.29magnets were prepared by low temperature pre-sintering and subsequent hot pressing.The grain size of the magnets is just about 1–3μm because the low sintering temperature results in no grain growth.The orientation degree,microstructure,and magnetic properties were studied.Some grains’easy axes deviate from the orientation direction,possibly due to grain rotation during the hot pressing.By subsequent annealing,the magnetic properties were significantly enhanced.Especially,the squareness of the demagnetization curve was improved greatly.The enhancement of coercivity by annealing can be explained by an improvement of both grain boundaries and magnetic isolation,which decouples the exchange interaction between neighboring grains.     

Improvement in coercivity,thermal stability,and corrosion resistance of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets with Dy_(80)Ga_(20) intergranular addition

To investigate the coercivity,corrosion resistance,and thermal stability of Nd-Fe-B magnets,their properties were investigated at room and high temperature before and after doping with Dy_(80)Ga_(20)(at.%) powder.The coercivity of the magnets increased from the undoped value of 12.72 kOe to a doped value of 21.44 kOe.A micro-structural analysis indicates that a well-developed core-shell structure forms in the magnets doped with Dy_(80)Ga_(20) powder.The improvement in magnetic properties is believed to be related to the refined and uniform matrix grains,continuous grain boundaries,and a hardened(Nd,Dy)_2Fe_(14)B shell surrounding the matrix grains.Additionally,the doped magnets exhibit an obvious improvement in thermal stability.For the magnets with added Dy_(80)Ga_(20) powder,the temperature coefficients of remanence(α) and coercivity(β) increased to-0.106%℃~(-1) and-0.60%℃~(-1) over the range 20-100 ℃,compared to temperature coefficients of-0.117%℃~(-1)(α) and-0.74%℃~(-1)(β) in the regular magnets without Dy_(80)Ga_(20) powder.The irreversible loss of magnetic flux(Hirr) was investigated at different temperatures.After being exposed to 150 ℃ for 2 h,the Hirr of magnets with 4 wt.%Dy_(80)Ga_(20) decreased by ~95%compared to that of the undoped magnets.The enhanced temperature coefficients and Hirr indicate improved thermal stability in the doped Nd-Fe-B magnets.The intergranular addition of Dy_(80)Ga_(20) also improved the corrosion resistance of the magnets because of the enhanced intergranular phase.In a corrosive atmosphere for 96 h,the mass loss of the sintered magnets with 4 wt.%Dy_(80)Ga_(20) was 2.68 mg/cm~2,less than 10%of that suffered by the undoped magnets(28.1 mg/cm~2).     

Coercivity and microstructure of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets diffused with Pr-Co,Pr-Al,and Pr-Co-Al alloys

The commercial 42 M Nd-Fe-B magnet was treated by grain boundary diffusion(GBD)with Pr₇₀Co₃₀(PC),Pr₇₀Al₃₀(PA)and Pr₇₀Co₁₅Al₁₅(PCA)alloys,respectively.The mechanism of coercivity enhancement in the GBD magnets was investigated.The coercivity was enhanced from 1.63 T to 2.15 T in the PCA GBD magnet,higher than the 1.81 T of the PC GBD magnet and the 2.01 T of the PA GBD magnet.This indicates that the joint addition of Co and Al in the diffusion source can further improve the coercivity.Microstructural investigations show that the coercivity enhancement is mainly attributed to the exchange-decoupling of the GB phases.In the PCA GBD magnet,the wider thin GB phases can be formed and the thin GB phases can still be observed at the diffusion depth of 1500μm due to the combined action of Co and Al.At the same time,the formation of the Pr-rich shell can also be observed,which is helpful for the coercivity enhancement.     

Effects of terbium sulfide addition on magnetic properties,microstructure and thermal stability of sintered Nd-Fe--B magnets

To increase coercivity and thermal stability of sintered Nd–Fe–B magnets for high-temperature applications, a novel terbium sulfide powder is added into(Pr_(0.25)Nd_(0.75))_(30.6)Cu_(0.15)Fe_(bal)B_1(wt.%) basic magnets. The effects of the addition of terbium sulfide on magnetic properties, microstructure, and thermal stability of sintered Nd–Fe–B magnets are investigated.The experimental results show that by adding 3 wt.% Tb_2S_3, the coercivity of the magnet is remarkably increased by about 54% without a considerable reduction in remanence and maximum energy product. By means of the electron probe microanalyzer(EPMA) technology, it is observed that Tb is mainly present in the outer region of 2:14:1 matrix grains and forms a well-developed Tb-shell phase, resulting in enhancement of HA, which accounts for the coercivity enhancement.Moreover, compared with Tb_2S_3-free magnets, the reversible temperature coefficients of remanence(α) and coercivity(β) and the irreversible flux loss of magnetic flow(hirr) values of Tb_2S_3-added magnets are improved, indicating that the thermal stability of the magnets is also effectively improved.     

Simulation of magnetization behaviours of Sm（Co,Fe,Cu,Zr）z magnet with low Cu content

The effects of microstructure, cell orientation and temperature on magnetic properties and the coercivity mechanism in Sm(Co,Fe,Cu,Zr)z with low Cu content are studied by using the micromagnetic finite element method in this paper. The simulations of the demagnetization behaviours indicate that the pinning effect weakens gradually with the thickness of cell boundary decreasing and strengthens gradually with the cell size decreasing. Because of the intergrain exchange coupling, the coercivity mechanism is determined by the difference in magnetocrystalline anisotropy between the cell phase and the cell boundary phase. And the coercivity mechanism is related to not only the cells alignment but also temperature. With temperature increasing, a transformation of the demagnetization mechanism occurs from the domain pinning to the uniform magnetization reversal mode and the transformation temperature is about 650~K.