The coercivity mechanism of Pr–Fe–B nanoflakes prepared by surfactant-assisted ball milling

• A coercivity of 4.16 kOe for Pr15Fe79B6 nanoflakes was obtained.
• The strong (00l) textured is obtained for Pr15Fe79B6 nanoflakes.
• The interaction of nanoflakes is mainly dipolar coupling.
• Domain wall pinning is the mainly coercivity mechanism.

The strong (00l) textured Pr12+xFe82−xB6 (x=0, 1, 2, 3, 4) nanoflakes with high coercivity were prepared by surfactant-assisted ball milling (SABM). The thickness and length of the flakes are mainly in the range of 50−200 nm and 0.5−2 μm, respectively. A coercivity of 4.16 kOe for Pr15Fe79B6 nanoflakes was obtained, which is the maximum coercivity of R2Fe14B (R=Pr, Nd) nanoflakes or nanoparticles reported up to now. The results of XRD and SEM for the aligned Pr15Fe79B6 nanoflakes indicate that a strong (00l) texture is obtained and the easy magnetization direction is parallel to the surface of the flakes. The angular dependence of coercivity for aligned sample indicates that the coercivity mechanism of the as-milled nanoflakes is mainly dominated by domain wall pinning. Meanwhile, the field dependence of coercivity, isothermal (IRM) and dc demagnetizing (DCD) remanence curves also indicate that the coercivity is mainly determined by domain wall pinning, and nucleation also has an important effect. In addition, the mainly interaction of flakes is dipolar coupling. The research of coercivity mechanism for Pr15Fe79B6 nanoflakes is important for guidance the further increase its value, and is useful for the future development of the high performance nanocomposite magnets and soft/hard exchange spring magnets.