New Developments in NdFeB-Based Permanent Magnets

NdFeB based alloys have been used as permanent magnets for almost thirty years. The recent researches aim at optimizing the composition, microstructure and properties, reducing cost, and developing new processes. The demand for sintered magnet is increasing. Efforts are directed towards improving properties by controlling grain boundary diffusion, minimizing the rare earth (RE) content and also improving production yield. As for bonded magnets, to enhance remanence and energy product, nanocrystalline powders are employed. High thermal stability has been realized by mixing NdFeB with hard ferrite powders. For nanocrystalline and nanocomposite NdFeB based alloys, both compositional modification and microstructural optimization have been carried out. New approaches have also been proposed to prepare NdFeB magnets with idea structure. Surfactant assisted ball milling is a good top-down method to obtain nanosized hard magnetic particles and anisotropic nanoflakes. Synthesis of NdFeB nanoparticles and NdFeB/Fe (Co) nanocomposite powders by bottom-up techniques, such as chemical reduction process and co-precipitation, has been successful very recently. To assemble nanocrystalline NdFeB powders or nanoparticles into bulk magnets, various novel consolidation processes including spark plasma sintering and high velocity press have been employed. Hot deformation can be selected as the process to achieve anisotropy in nanocrystalline magnets.