Thermal stability, thermal expansion and grain-growth in exchange-coupled Fe–Pt–Ag–B bulk nanocomposite magnets

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• Formation of the L10 FePt hard-magnetic phase (>90%) directly in the as-cast state. • Specific alternating hard/soft nanostructure is stable to 600 °C without grain growth. • Anisotropic and non-linear thermal expansion effects. • The FePtAgB alloy behaves like a single magnetic phase (full exchange coupling). Rare-earth free (RE-free) exchange coupling nanocomposite magnets are intensively studied nowadays due to their potential use in applications demanding stable high-temperature operation and corrosion resistance. In this respect, the FePt alloy system is one of the most actively addressed potential permanent magnet solutions. In FePt alloys, promising magnetic features arise from the co-existence of hard magnetic L 1 0 FePt and soft magnetic L 1 2 Fe 3 Pt phases emerged from the same metastable precursor. The present work deals with an in-situ temperature-resolved synchrotron radiation study of the thermal stability, thermal expansion and microstructure evolution in exchange-coupled FePtAgB alloys. The as-cast microstructural state as well as the optimized magnetic behavior are given as reference and correlated to the observed microstructural evolution with temperature. The melt-spun Fe 48 Pt 28 Ag 6 B 18 alloy ribbons were examined in situ by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction from ambient temperature up to 600 °C. The FePt–Fe 3 Pt exchange-coupled microstructure achieved by rapid solidification is not significantly altered during the high temperature exposure. The thermal expansion of the FePt L 1 0 unit cell has been found to be strongly anisotropic, being essentially an in-plane expansion which may be seen as an anisotropic invar effect. For the FePt L 1 0 phase, a significant deviation from linear thermal expansion is observed at the Curie temperature T C = 477 °C. This non-linear behavior above T C is tentatively linked to a diffusion/segregation mechanism of Ag. The promising hard magnetic properties as well as the direct formation of the L 1 0 phase from the as-cast state are directly related to the presence of Ag in the intergranular regions.