Elevated temperature magnetic microstructures and demagnetization mechanism for grain boundary diffused dual-main-phase (Nd, Ce)-Fe-B magnets

Abstract

The combination of dual-main-phase (DMP) (Nd, Ce)-Fe-B magnets and grain boundary diffusion process (GBDP) is currently a research topic for obtaining high-cost performance materials in rare earth permanent magnet fields. The novel structural features of GBDP (Nd, Ce)-Fe-B magnets give a version of different domain reversal processes from those of non-diffused magnets. In this work, the in-situ magnetic domain evolution of the DMP magnets was observed at elevated temperatures, and the temperature demagnetization and coercivity mechanism of the GBDP dual-main-phase (Nd, Ce)-Fe-B magnets are discussed. The results show that the shell composition of different types of grains in DMP magnets is similar, while the magnetic microstructure results indicate the Ce-rich grains tend to demagnetize first. Dy-rich shell with a high anisotropic field caused by GBDP leads to an increase in the nucleation field, which enhances the coercivity. It is found that much more grains exhibit single domain characteristics in the remanent state for GBDP dual-main-phase (Nd, Ce)-Fe-B magnets. In addition, the grains that undergo demagnetization first are Ce-rich or Nd-rich grains, which is different from that of non-diffused magnets. These results were not found in previous studies but can be intuitively characterized from the perspective of magnetic domains in this work, providing a new perspective and understanding of the performance improvement of magnetic materials.