Influence of misch metal content on microstructure and magnetic properties of R–Fe–B magnets sintered by dual alloy method

MM_(14)Fe_(79.9)B_(6.1)/Nd_(13.5)Fe_(80.5)B_6 magnets were fabricated by dual alloy method(MM, misch metal). Some magnets have two Curie temperatures. Curie temperatures T_(c1)corresponds to the main phase which contains more La Ce, and T_(c1) decreases from 276.5?C to 256.6?C with the content of MM increasing from 30.3 at.% to 50.6 at.%. The variation of Br with the increase of MM indicates the existence of inter-grain exchange coupling in the magnets. When MM/R ≤ 30.3 at.%,the magnetic properties can reach the level of the intrinsic coercivity Hcj≥ 7.11 kOe and the maximum energy product(BH)max≥ 41 MGOe. Compared with Nd, La and Ce are easier to diffuse to the grain boundaries in the sintering process,and this will cause the decrease of H_(cj) Due to the diffusion between the grains, the atomic ratio of La, Ce, Pr, and Nd in each grain is different and the percentage of Nd in all grains is higher than that in misch metal.     

Mn-based permanent magnets

Mn-based intermetallic compounds have attracted much attention due to their fascinating structural and physical properties, especially their interesting hard magnetic properties. In this paper, we have summarized the magnetic and structural properties of Mn-based intermetallic compounds(Mn X, where X = Al, Bi, and Ga). Various methods for synthesizing single phases of MnAl, MnBi, and Mnx Ga were developed in our lab. A very high saturation magnetization of 125 emu/g,coercivity of 5 kOe, and maximum energy product(BH)max of 3.1 MG·Oe were achieved at room temperature for the pure τ-Mn–Al magnetic phase without carbon doping and the extrusion process. Low temperature phase(LTP) MnBi with a purity above 95 wt.% can be synthesized. An abnormal temperature coefficient of the coercivity was observed for the LTP MnBi magnet. Its coercivity increased with temperature from 100 K to 540 K, reached a maximum of 2.5 T at about540 K, and then decreased slowly to 1.8 T at 610 K. The positive temperature coefficient of the coercivity is related to the evolution of the structure and magnetocrystalline anisotropy field of the LTP MnBi phase with temperature. The LTP MnBi bonded magnets show maximum energy products(BH)max of 8.9 MG·Oe(70 kJ/m~3) and 5.0 MG·Oe(40 k J/m~3) at room temperature and 400 K, respectively. Ferrimagnetic Mnx Ga phases with L10 structures(x 2.0) and D022 structures(x 2.0) were obtained. All of the above structures can be described by a D0_(22) supercell model in which 2 a-Ga and 2 b-Mn are simultaneously substituted. The tetragonal D0_(22) phases of the Mnx Ga show high coercivities ranging from 7.2 kOe for low Mn content x = 1.8 to 18.2 kOe for high Mn content x = 3 at room temperature. The Mn_(1.2) Ga sample exhibits a room temperature magnetization value of 80 emu/g. The hard magnetic properties of coercivity_iH_c = 3.5 kOe, remanence Mr = 43.6 emu/g, and(BH)max = 2.5 MG·Oe were obtained at room temperature. Based on the above studies, we believe that Mn-based magnetic materials could be promising candidates for rare earth free permanent magnets exhibiting a high Curie temperature, high magnetocrystalline anisotropy, and very high coercivity.     

Effects of post-sinter annealing on microstructure and magnetic properties of Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets with Nd–Ga intergranular addition

We investigate the effects of post-sinter annealing on the microstructure and magnetic properties in B-lean Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets with different quantities of Nd–Ga intergranular additions. The magnet with fewer Nd–Ga additions can enhance 0.2 T in coercivity, with its remanences nearly unchanged after annealing. With the further increase of the Nd–Ga addition, the annealing process leads coercivity to increase 0.4 T, accompanied by a slight decrease of remanence. With the Nd–Ga addition further increasing and after annealing, however, the increase of coercivity is basically constant and the change of remanence is reduced. Microstructure observation indicates that the matrix grains are covered by continuous thin grain boundary phase in the magnets with an appropriate Nd–Ga concentration after the annealing process. However, the exceeding Nd–Ga addition brings out notable segregation of grain boundary phase, and prior formation of part RE6 Fe13 Ga phase in the sintered magnet. This prior formation results in a weaker change of remanence after the annealing process.Therefore, the diverse changes of magnetic properties with different Nd–Ga concentrations are based on the respective evolution of grain boundary after the annealing process.     

Coercivity mechanism of La–Nd–Fe–B films with Y spacer layer

The effect of the Y spacer layer on the phase composition, coercivity, and magnetization reversal processes of La–Nd–Fe–B films has been investigated. The addition of a 10 nm Y spacer layer increases the coercivity of the film to 1.36 T at 300 K and remains 0.938 T at 380 K. As the thickness of the Y spacer layer increases, Y participates in the formation of the main phase in the film, and further regulates the formation of La–B phases. The results of the first-order reversal curve(FORC) and mic...     

Regulating element distribution to improve magnetic properties of sintered Nd–Fe–B/Tb–Fe–B composite magnets

Nd content was varied in Nd_(13.2-x)Fe_(80.8+x)B_6(x = 0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5) to optimize the magnetic properties of sintered Nd–Fe–B/Tb–Fe–B composite magnets, which were prepared by mixing 9 g of Nd–Fe–B with 1 g of Tb_(17)Fe_(75)B_8 powder.In conventional magnets, by reducing Nd content, the coercivity of 10.4 kOe in Nd_(13.2)Fe_(80.8)B_6 decreases to 7.2 kOe in Nd_(12.2)Fe_(81.8)B_6; meanwhile, in Nd–Fe–B/Tb–Fe–B magnets the coercivity does not decrease when reducing Nd content.In the intergranular phase, the Tb content increases owing to the reducing Nd content of the Nd–Fe–B alloy in the sintered composite magnets.Therefore, the excess Tb in Tb_(17)Fe_(75)B_8 enters the intergranular phase, and more Tb atoms can substitute for Nd at the grain boundary of the Nd–Fe–B phase, leading to a more significant increase in coercivity.The remanence increases with reducing Nd content, and the energy product of 39.1 MGOe with a high coercivity of 21.0 kOe is obtained in Nd_(12.2)Fe_(81.8)B_6/Tb_(17)Fe_(75)B_8 magnets.These investigations show that magnetic properties can be further improved by regulating the element distribution in sintered composite magnets.     

Exchange interaction and demagnetization process of high-abundance rare-earth magnets sintered using dual alloy method

The 2:14:1-type rare-earth(RE)-Fe-B permanent magnets prepared by the dual alloy method have been found to possess much superior magnetic properties to those prepared by the single alloy method,providing an appealing route to promote the utilization of high-abundance RE elements Ce and La and balance the use of the RE source.However,the relationship between magnetic interactions among different 2:14:1 main phases and superior magnetic properties is still unclear.In this study,we investigated the magnetic interactions and reversal field distribution in these magnets using first-order reversal curve(FORC)images.The FORC images showed that(Nd,Pr)27.8(La,Ce)2.7FebalM1.4B1.0(S-9)and(Nd,Pr)19.5(La,Ce)11.0FebalM1.4B1.0(S-36)have the characteristics of multiple main phases.The reverse magnetic fields corresponding to the soft and hard main phases,as well as the associated exchange coupling,were highly dependent on the La Ce content.The higher the La Ce content,the weaker the exchange coupling and the more asynchronous the demagnetization process.In addition,the FORC images indicated that the magnetization reversal process also varies with La Ce content,where the nucleation and propagation of reversed domains dominant in the S-9 magnet,while the domain propagation in the S-36 magnet is considerably suppressed.Additional micromagnetic simulations also revealed that the coercivity and exchange coupling of multi-main-phase magnets decrease with increasing La Ce content,correlating well with the experimental results.These findings may not only contribute to a better understanding of the complex magnetic interactions between the soft and hard phases and how they affect macroscopic magnetic properties but also help in improving the magnetic performance of the RE-Fe-B magnets with high La Ce content.     

Effect of magnetic properties of soft magnetic phase on the energy product of an exchange-spring magnet

Research on exchange-spring magnets has focused on the microstructures of the materials.However,research has seldom been concerned with the effect of magnetic properties of soft magnetic phase on the energy product of an exchangespring magnet.In this paper,a simple one-dimensional numerical simulation is used to investigate this effect in a Nd2Fe14Bbased exchange-spring magnet.The results reveal that the larger the anisotropy constant,the stronger the exchange coupling,and the higher the magnetization of the soft magnetic4 phase,the larger the energy product of an exchange-spring magnet.This provides evidence for choosing a soft magnetic phase in an exchange-spring magnet.     

Monte Carlo Simulation of Magnetization Behaviour of Co Nanowires

Based on the Monte Carlo method, we simulate the magnetization curves with various magnetic field orientations for various single Co nanowires at room temperature. The simulated switching field as a function of angle between the field and the wire axis is consistent well with the experimental data. Correspondingly, the coercivity as a function of angle θ is presented, which together with the switching field plays an important role on explaining the magnetic reversal mechanism. It is found that the angular dependence of coercivity depends on the diameter of nanowires, and the coercivity and switching field versus θ deviate markedly from the prediction from the classical uniform rotation mode in the chain-of-sphere model. Furthermore, the magnetic reversal configurations display that magnetization reversal in the wires with small diameters is a nucleation-propagation process, and it is similar to the curling spread process in the larger wires.     

Layer resolved magnetization reversal study in SmCo5/Fe nanocomposite bilayers

A hard/soft SmCo5/Fe nanocomposite magnetic bilayer system is fabricated on x-ray transparent 100-200 nm thin Si3N4 films by magnetron sputtering.The microscopic magnetic domain pattern and its behaviours during magnetization reversal in the hard and the soft magnetic phases are studied separately by element specific magnetic soft x-ray microscopy at a spatial resolution of better than 25 nm.We observe that the domain patterns for the soft and hard phases show coherent behaviours in varying magnetic fields.We derive local M(H) curves from the images of Fe and SmCo5 separately and find the switches for hard and soft phases to be the same.     

Effect of annealing temperature on coercivity of Nd–Fe–B magnets with TbFeAl doping by process of hot-pressing

The Nd–Fe–B magnets are pre-sintered and then processed with hot-pressing, and the resulting magnets are called the hot-pressed pretreated(HPP) magnets. The coercivity of the HPP magnets increases as the annealed temperature increases.When the annealing temperature is 900℃, the coercivity of the magnet is only 17.6 kOe(1Oe = 79.5775 A·m~(-1)), but when the annealing temperature rises up to 1060℃, the coercivity of the magnet reaches 23.53 k Oe, which is remarkably increased by 33.7%. The microstructure analysis indicates that the grain surface of the HPP magnet becomes smoother as the annealed temperature increases. The microstructure factor α is changed according to the intrinsic coercivity model formula. The α of the magnet at 900℃ is only 0.578, but it is 0.825 at 1060℃. Microstructural optimization is due mainly to the increase of coercivity of the HPP magnet.     

Effects of thin MnAl buffer layer on structural and magnetic properties of MnAl films

Thin Mn(2 nm)/Al(2 nm) bilayers serving as buffer layers have been prepared prior to the deposition of MnAl films. The ferromagnetic τ-phase forms in the buffer layers at an optimum substrate temperature. As a template it induces the growth of following MnAl film. Compared with the case of film without buffer layer, the growth of non-ferromagnetic phase is suppressed and the structural and magnetic properties of MnAl film are improved. Weak dipolar inter-grain coupling is revealed in the MnAl film, and the magnetic reversal process is dominated by magnetic moment rotation.     

Types of the jump phenomenon in the angular dependence of the noncollinear exchange bias

Based on the principle of minimal energy and the coherent rotation model, two types of the jump phenomena, complete and incomplete jump phenomenon, are proved to exist in the angular dependence of the exchange bias with noncollinear unidirectional and uniaxial anisotropies. It is found that the transition between complete and incomplete jump phenomena occurs on condition that the exchange-coupling constant exceeds a critical value. Additionally, two different modes of the magnetization rotation, the whole-plane rotation, and the half-plane rotation are present in the magnetization reversal process, and they are dependent on the direction of the external field. Furthermore, the equations of the critical angle, at which orientation the exchange bias field reaches a maximum value and the coercivity disappears, are also derived in this paper. The numerical calculations in this paper are consistent with the relevant experimental observations, indicating that our method to study the angular dependence of the exchange bias as well as the magnetization reversal behaviors is valid. Our discussion about the jump phenomenon, the critical angle, and the modes of the magnetization reversal can explain the observed differences in results between different experiments.     

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.     

Composition design for (PrNd-La-Ce)_2Fe_(14)B melt-spun magnets by machine learning technique

Data-driven technique is a powerful and efficient tool for guiding materials design,which could supply as an alternative to trial-and-error experiments.In order to accelerate composition design for low-cost rare-earth permanent magnets,an approach using composition to estimate coercivity(H_(cj)) and maximum magnetic energy product(BH)_(max) via machine learning has been applied to(PrNd–La–Ce)_2Fe_(14)B melt-spun magnets.A set of machine learning algorithms are employed to build property prediction models,in which the algorithm of Gradient Boosted Regression Trees is the best for predicting both H_(cj) and(BH)_(max),with high accuracies of R~2= 0.88 and 0.89,respectively.Using the best models,predicted datasets of H_(cj) or(BH)max in high-dimensional composition space can be constructed.Exploring these virtual datasets could provide efficient guidance for materials design,and facilitate the composition optimization of 2:14:1 structure melt-spun magnets.Combined with magnets' cost performance,the candidate cost-effective magnets with targeted properties can also be accurately and rapidly identified.Such data analytics,which involves property prediction and composition design,is of great time-saving and economical significance for the development and application of La Ce-containing melt-spun magnets.     

Magnetic and Crystalline Microstructures of Fe-Pt-B Nanocomposite Ribbons

We investigate magnetic and crystalline microstructures of melt-spun (Fe0.675Pt0.325)100-xBx (x=12, 14, 16, 18,20) nanocomposite ribbons after optimal thermal treatment using a magnetic force microscope. The magnetic microstructures are characterized by darker spots adjacent to brighter ones in a sub-micro scale and in random distribution. It is found that the strength of the exchange coupling interaction between the crystals in the 10-100 nm scale, implied by the maximum value (δM)max of the Henkel plot, could be roughly described by the ratio of the average width of the magnetic spots w^- to the average crystal size D^- for the ribbons. Moreover, we find that the intrinsic coercivity jHc of the ribbons is sensitive to their crystal sizes, and the smaller D^-, the higher jHc. Finally, by using roughness analysis, the curve of the root mean square values (δФ)rms of the phase shift of the magnetic force images versus the boron content x is obtained, which is qualitatively consistent with that of the magnetization σ12 kOe of the ribbons versus x.     

Crystal Structure and Magnetic Properties of Sm2 Fe17-Nδ Thin Films Deposited on Si （100） Substrates

This work focuses on the crystal structure and magnetic properties of the hard magnetic Sm2 Fe17 Nδ films prepared by dc magnetron sputtering and the subsequent nitriding process. The XRD, EDS, M-H and M-T data show that N enters the cell structure and the films with the single Th2Zn17 phase are obtained when the nitriding temperature varies from 300 to 400℃, thus the maximum value of the coercivity Hc reaches 2561.7Oe. However, the Sm2Fo17 phase decomposes to the StuN nonmagnetic phase and the α-Fe soft magnetic phase with further increasing nitriding temperature, which corresponds to the decreasing Hc. Furthermore, the easy magnetization direction （EMD） is found to locate randomly in the film plane. This texture can not give an excellent MR/Ms higher than the Stoner-Wohlfarth limitation （MR/Ms = 0.5）, which agrees well with the observed low MR/Ms （0.58）. It is suggested that the magnetization reversal process is dominated by the nucleation mechanism according to the initial magnetization curve and the dependence of Hc on the field H.     

The effect of Fe doping on structural and magnetic properties of nanocrystallite Co2Cr1-xFexAl Heusler alloys prepared by mechanical alloying

Mechanical alloying has been used to produce nanocrystallite Co2Cr1-xFexAl(x=0,0.4,0.6,1) Heusler alloys.The formation of the L21 phase of Co2Cr1-xFexAl by the mechanical alloying method was investigated.The effect of Fe doping on the structural and magnetic properties of the samples was also studied.The results were compared with the Slater Pauling prediction.A comparison between these samples and those prepared by the arc-melting method in the literature was made.An increase of the coercivity H c with the increasing Fe doping level was observed.This phenomenon was explained by the increases of lattice strain and magnetic anisotropy with the increasing Fe content.     

Study of sawtooth oscillations on the HT-7 tokamak using 2D tomography of soft x-ray signal

It is the first time so far as we know that two arrays of multi-channel soft x-ray detectors are used to generate twodimensional （2D） images of sawtooth oscillation on the HT-7 tokamak using the Fourier-Bessel harmonic reconstruction method, and using the singular value decomposition to analyse the data from soft x-ray cameras. By these two arrays, 2D image reconstruction of soft x-ray emissivity can be obtained without assumption of plasma rigid rotation. Tomographic reconstruction of the m=1 mode structure is obtained during the precursor oscillation of the sawtooth crash. The crescent-shaped mode structure appearing on the contour map of the soft x-ray emissivity is consistent with the quasiinterchange mode. The characteristics of the m=1/n=1 mode structure observed in the soft x-ray tomography are as follows： the magnetic surface is made up of the crescent-shaped “hot core” and the circular “cold bubble”. The structure of the magnetic surface rotates in the direction of the electron diamagnetic drift and the rotation frequency is the oscillation frequency of soft x-ray signals.     

Enhanced coercivity and remanence of PrCo_5 nanoflakes prepared by surfactant-assisted ball milling with heat-treated starting powder

PrCo5 nanoflakes with strong texture and high coercivity of 8.15 k Oe were prepared by surfactant-assisted ball milling with heat-treated starting powder. The thickness and length of the as-milled nanoflakes are mainly in the ranges of 50–100 nm and 0.5–3 μm, respectively. The x-ray diffraction patterns demonstrate that the heat treatment can increase the single phase and crystallinity of the Pr Co5 compound, and combined with the demagnetization curves, indicate that the single phase and crystallinity are important for preparing high-coercivity and strong-textured rare earth permanent magnetic nanoflakes. In addition, the coercivity mechanism of the as-milled Pr Co5 nanoflakes is studied by the angle dependence of coercivity for an aligned sample and the field dependence of coercivity, isothermal(IRM) and dc demagnetizing(DCD)remanence curves for an unaligned sample. The results indicate that the coercivity is dominated by co-existing mechanisms of pinning and nucleation. Furthermore, exchange coupling and dipolar coupling also co-exist in the sample.