High‐Cerium‐Content Fe–Ce–Nd–B Sintered Magnets with High Coercivity

Abstract

Ce substitution of Nd in FeNdB sintered magnets is very interesting for reasons of resource efficiency, sustainability and costs. However, the magnetic properties of high Ce‐content magnets are poor. This is mainly due to the lower values of intrinsic magnetic properties of Fe14Ce2B compared to Fe14Nd2B as well as the Laves phase Fe2Ce, which is formed in the grain boundaries and forms flat aggregates for higher Ce‐content. In this article, sintered magnets with 75 at% degree of substitution of the composition Fe70.9–[(Ce1−xLax)0.75Nd0.25]18.8–B5.8–M4.5 (M = Co, Ti, Al, Ga, Cu, 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) are produced and analyzed. It is shown that a new rare earth rich grain boundary phase is formed adding La and that the Laves phase fraction can be reduced by up to 85%. With increasing La content, the remanence and Curie temperature increase and the temperature coefficient of Hc improves. A coercivity, remanence, and maximum energy density of up to μ0Hc = 0.74 T, Jr = 0.98 T, and (BH)max = 139.9 kJ m−3 have been achieved.