Coercivity enhancement of hot-deformed NdFeB magnets by in situ two-end-diffusion with R70Cu30 alloy powders (R = NdPr and Ce)

We hereby present a simple process, called in situ two-end diffusion (TED), to reach coercivity enhancement with almost unchanged energy product for hot deformed (HD) NdFeB magnets. Coercivity of the HD magnets is increased from 15.1 to 18.7 kOe for the magnet TED with (Nd0.75Pr0.25)70Cu30 (NdPrCu), which is larger than 17.6 kOe for the magnet directly doped with 2 wt. % NdPrCu alloy. Besides, the magnet TED with NdPrCu exhibits good (00L) texture and therefore could support high (BH)max of 43.0 MGOe. In addition, the magnet TED with Ce70Cu30 (CeCu) exhibit superior magnetic properties of Br = 12.8 kG, iHc = 18.0 kOe and (BH)max = 40.7 MGOe to those of traditional doping with CeCu (Br = 11.7 kG, iHc = 16.4 kOe and (BH)max = 34.2 MGOe). For TED process, low-melting CeCu can infiltrate into the center of the magnet, and most Ce distribute at grain boundary. The distribution of Ce and Cu at grain boundary can reduce the magnetization of grain boundary phase, strengthen the decoupling effect between grains and contribute to the coercivity enhancement. This work demonstrates TED with low-melting HRE-free alloys is a simple method to effectively enhance coercivity and keep high Br and (BH)max for HD NdFeB magnets.