A.M. Gabay

Rare earth-cobalt hard magnetic nanoparticles and nanoflakes by high-energy milling

High-energy ball milling has been shown to be a promising method for large-scale fabrication of rare earth-transition metal nanoparticles. In this work, we report crystallographically anisotropic SmCo(5), PrCo(5) and Sm(2)(Co, Fe)(17) nanoparticles (particle size smaller than 10 nm) obtained by surfactant-assisted ball milling and study their size and properties as a function of the milling conditions. By milling nanocrystalline precursor alloys, we obtained SmCo(5) platelets (flakes) approximately 100 nm thick with an aspect ratio as high as 10(2)-10(3). The unusual shape evolution of this brittle material is attributed to its increased plasticity in the nanocrystalline state. The nanoflakes are susceptible to re-crystallization annealing and exhibit a room-temperature coercivity of up to 19 kOe. The successful fabrication of rare earth-cobalt nanoparticles and ultra-thin flakes provides hope for the development of nanocomposite permanent magnets with an enhanced energy product.

Die-upset hybrid Pr–Fe–B nanocomposite magnets

Anisotropic nanocomposite R–Fe–B/Fe magnets (R=Pr, Tb) were synthesized by hot pressing and subsequent die upsetting blends of R-rich and R-lean melt-spun ribbons. The magnets have a layered structure, in which alternating layers of the two starting alloys lay perpendicularly to the pressing direction. A crystallographic alignment of the R2Fe14B grains is observed in the R-rich layers, whose microstructure is identical to that of the conventional die-upset magnets. The R-lean layers consisting of exchange-coupled R2Fe14B and α-Fe grains retain the random crystallographic orientation. The obtained bulk R-lean magnets show better properties than magnets of the same overall composition prepared from a single alloy.

Anisotropic SmCo5 nanoflakes by surfactant-assisted high energy ball milling

Crystallographically anisotropic SmCo5 nanoflakes were fabricated directly by one-step surfactant-assisted high energy ball milling (HEBM) of Sm17Co83 ingot powders for 5 h in heptane and oleic acid (OA) without preprocessing or further annealing. The SmCo5 nanoflakes have a strong [001] out-of-plane texture. The thickness of nanoflakes is in the range of 8–80 nm while their length is 0.5–8 μm. The surfactant OA plays an important role in the formation of SmCo5 nanoflakes. HEBM of SmCo5 ingots in heptane without OA resulted in the formation of magnetically isotropic more or less equiaxed SmCo5 particles with a size of 2–30 μm. Closely packed “kebablike” SmCo5 nanoflakes were formed by HEBM in heptane with 15 wt % OA. HEBM in 150 wt % OA led to well-separated nanoflakes instead of the closely packed kebablike nanostructure. This resulted in the enhanced [001] out-of-plane texture. In-plane transmission electron microscope examination showed that the SmCo5 nanoflakes were composed of grains with sizes in th...

Anomalous temperature dependence of coercivity and reversal mechanism in bulk-hardened rare earth-cobalt magnets

The “anomalous” nonmonotonic temperature dependence of coercivity, reported in Sm–Zr–Co–Cu magnets, has also been observed in bulk-hardened Y–Zr–Co–Fe–Cu alloys with a similar microstructure. The phenomenon appears to be universal for all R–Co magnets (R=rare earth) having a microstructure consisting of R2Co17 cells surrounded by the RCo5 phase. The effect of R and Cu on the temperature dependence of coercivity cannot be simply explained by traditional domain-wall pinning model based on the difference in a domain wall energy. Possibility that the coercivity is controlled by nucleation of reversed domains in magnetically isolated R2Co17 cells is discussed.

Dysprosium-saving improvement of coercivity in Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets by Dy2S3 additions

Dysprosium-added sintered magnets were prepared from blends of Nd15.5(Fe,Co,Ga)78.2B6.3 and Dy2S3 powders; their microstructure and magnetic properties were compared to those of the magnets made with Dy2O3 additions or from single (Nd,Dy)-(Fe,Co,Ga)-B alloys. The addition of Dy2S3 leads to replacement of the neodymium oxide phases in the sintered magnets by the Nd2O2S and NdS phases. The magnets prepared with both the Dy2S3 and Dy2O3 powders exhibited inhomogeneous distribution of Dy within the (Nd,Dy)2Fe14B grains with Dy-rich outer grain regions. However, in a marked difference from the Dy2O3-added and single-alloy magnets, where the grain-boundary oxide phases were Dy-rich, the magnets prepared with Dy2S3 had their sulfur-containing grain-boundary phases depleted of Dy. With the larger fraction of Dy atoms available for alloying the main (Nd,Dy)2Fe14B phase, the magnets prepared with Dy2S3 showed the largest coercivity gain per 1 at.% of the added Dy.

Current Status of Rare-Earth Permanent Magnet Research in USA

Abstract In the paper, we summarize the USA research activities in the past two years on high performance rare earth ( R )-based (nano) composite, nanostructured and hybrid permanent magnets. The work discussed is organized in three major sections (i) isotropic magnets based on the R 2 Fe 14 B hard phase, (ii) anisotropic magnets based on the R 2 Fe 14 B hard phase and (iii) magnets with a R-Co hard phase (1:5 and/or 2:17), including ultrahigh temperature Sm-Co magnets, Sm-Co permanent magnets with almost zero reversible temperature coefficient of residual induction for critical applications and ultrahigh temperature Sm-Co magnets with small reversible temperature coefficient of residual induction.

Fluoride-added Pr-Fe-B die-upset magnets with increased electrical resistivity

This work reports the effect of NdF3, DyF3, and CaF2 additions on the electrical resistivity and magnetic properties of Pr–Fe–B hot-pressed and die-upset permanent magnets. Composite magnets were synthesized from ground Pr14.5Fe79.5B6 melt-spun ribbons blended with 5wt% of fluoride fine powders and consolidated by hot pressing at 650°C, followed by die upsetting at 800°C. While CaF2 is stable at the processing temperatures, the rare earth atoms separate from their fluorides to a certain degree with the assistance of the Pr-rich phase from the magnet matrix. Addition of fluorides increased the resistivity of the hot-pressed specimens by more than 200%. The resistivity of the die-upset specimens measured perpendicularly to the direction of the applied pressure, which is also the direction of magnetization, is, however, only slightly increased compared to the magnet counterparts without the fluoride addition. The intrinsic coercivity of Pr14.5Fe79.5B6 die-upset specimens is increased from 14.5kOe to 15.3, 17...

Influence of the type of surfactant and hot compaction on the magnetic properties of SmCo5 nanoflakes

In this study, we discuss the effects of a type of surfactant (oleylamine, oleic acid, and trioctylamine) and hot pressing on the hard magnetic properties of crystallographically anisotropic SmCo5 nanoflakes prepared by surfactant-assisted high energy ball milling. The phase, microstructure, and magnetic properties of the hot-pressed SmCo5 were investigated by using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry. The coercivities of the precursor flakes prepared using oleylamine, oleic acid, and trioctylamine were 14.9, 15.8, and 15 kOe, respectively. Hot-compacted SmCo5 magnets prepared from the nanoflakes milled with oleic acid had the lowest coercivity of 8.1 kOe. It is believed that even after repeated washing in an ultrasonic bath with different solvents, the remaining oleic acid in the SmCo5 nanoflakes led to oxidation of SmCo5 at the surface/interface of nanoflakes during the hot-pressing process. The compacted SmCo5 magnets prepared from the nanoflakes milled wi...

Enhanced Mr and (BH)max in anisotropic R2Fe14B∕α‐Fe composite magnets via intergranular magnetostatic coupling

Composite magnets were prepared by hot pressing followed by hot deformation of blends composed of Nd14Fe79.5Ga0.5B6 or (Nd0.75Dy0.25)14Fe79.5Ga0.5B6 ribbon powders as a high-coercivity component and Fe powder as a high-magnetization component. The addition of 15 wt % α-Fe to (Nd0.75Dy0.25)14Fe79.5Ga0.5B6 increases the remanent magnetization of the hot-deformed magnets from 10.6 to 12.04 kG, while the maximum energy product is also increased from 27.3 to 29.5 MG Oe for hot-deformed magnets with 10 wt % α-Fe addition. Microstructure investigations of the composite magnets revealed the size of the Fe particles in the micrometer range, exceeding by far the size for effective exchange interactions. Despite a less refined microstructure, the particular layered configuration of the composite magnets gives rise to a positive magnetostatic coupling of the grains and therefore a unitary magnetic behavior with enhanced magnetic properties. The cooperative demagnetization process, together with the magnetic coupling ...

Numerical simulation of a magnetostatically coupled composite magnet

The demagnetization behavior of the hard-soft composite magnet has been simulated with a simple model in order to understand better the magnetization reversal of die-upset composite magnets fabricated from blends of Nd–Fe–B ribbons and coarse Fe powders. The calculations show that soft magnetic inclusions of any size can be fully magnetically coupled with the hard matrix by long-range magnetostatic interactions provided that the inclusions form layers perpendicular to the magnetization direction. Though the magnetostatic coupling along does not lead to enhanced hard magnetic properties of the composite magnets, it makes the full exchange coupling between the hard and soft phases unnecessary and, therefore, relaxes the strict requirements for the size of the soft inclusions. The combination of magnetostatic coupling and partial exchange coupling in a die-upset magnet with layered morphology may facilitate the development of anisotropic hard-soft composite magnets with properties superior to the single-phas...