Spark Plasma Sintering Nd-Fe-B Permanent Magnets With Good All-Around Property

In present study, sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets with different compositions were fabricated by using both Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technique and conventional sintering technique. Microstructure and compositions of both magnets are observed by scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray detector. Magnetic properties, mechanical properties, and chemical stabilities of both Nd-Fe-B magnets are investigated. Compared with the conventional sintered magnets, SPS Nd-Fe-B magnets possess comparable magnetic properties, better corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. Further investigation shows that the good all-around properties of the SPS magnets result from their unique microstructure. In detail, the grain size of Nd2Fe14B main phase is fine and uniform, only a few Nd-rich phase forms along the grain boundaries of Nd2Fe14B, while most of them agglomerates into the triple junctions. As a result, SPS process is expected to be a promising method for the production of new Nd-Fe-B magnets with good all-around properties.