An efficient process for preparing regenerated magnets by dynamic recovery of Nd-Fe-B sintered magnet sludge

Abstract

As a new technology for the short-process recovery of Nd–Fe–B sintered magnet sludge, the calcium thermal reduction diffusion method has attracted significant attention due to its low energy consumption, environmental friendliness, and high recovery rate. However, traditional calcium thermal reduction diffusion technology still has issues such as an insufficient reaction between the sludge and reducing agent after increasing the amount of reactants, the use of a large amount of reducing agent, and low recovery efficiency. Therefore, a novel dynamic calcium thermal reduction diffusion technology was proposed, with the calcium reduction diffusion of sludge and calcium undergoing a continuous mixing and diffusion state throughout the entire process, greatly improving the efficiency of the reaction. Compared with the traditional process, the amount of reactants was increased from a few grams to hundreds of grams, and the amount of reducing agent calcium was reduced by 25%. Subsequently, regenerated magnetic powder with a uniform particle size, good dispersion, and excellent magnetic properties was obtained. The saturation magnetization under a 3 T magnetic field was increased by 27.9% compared with the initial sludge. The maximum magnetic energy product of the magnet prepared by doping 50 wt% regenerated magnetic powder was 45 MGOe, which reached the highest level of the regenerated magnets prepared by recycling sludge. What is encouraging that this new technology had the advantage of achieving large-scale production and reducing production costs, providing a potential industrialization solution for the green and efficient recovery of Nd–Fe–B sintered magnet sludge.