Textured (Ce,La,Y)–Fe–B permanent magnets by hot deformation

Abstract

Nanocrystalline 2:14:1-type Ce–Fe–B alloy powders show potential application for low-cost hard magnets, but it is still a big challenge to prepare bulk anisotropic Ce–Fe–B magnet. In this study, we investigated the fabrication of bulk Ce–Fe–B, (Ce,La)–Fe–B and (Ce,La,Y)–Fe–B magnets by hot-deformation. It is found that no texture can be obtained for Ce–Fe–B ternary alloy after deformation due to the lack of rare-earth rich phase. However, a clear preferred orientation is obtained in the magnets with La substitution for Ce. The formation of texture is attributed to the reduced amount of CeFe2 Laves phase in the (Ce,La)–Fe–B alloy, allowing the formation of a rare-earth rich intergranular phase, which is necessary to induce texture during hot deformation. Adding Y improves the thermal stability of the magnets while maintaining the texture. The bulk [(Ce0.9La0.1)0.8Y0.2]16.83Fe77.23B5.94 magnet exhibits an intrinsic coercivity of 124 kA/m, a remanence of 0.63 T and a maximum energy product of 29.5 kJ/m3. This study provides a feasible approach for fabricating anisotropic nanocrystalline Ce-based 2:14:1-type permanent magnets with considerable hard magnetic properties.