On the cooling rate of strip cast ingots for sintered NdFeB magnets

Effects of the cooling rate of strip cast ingots on magnetic properties of sintered NdFeB magnets were studied. It is found that the magnetic properties greatly depend on wheel speed due to different alloy microstructures, which affect readily the particle size distribution of powders obtained after the subsequent jet milling. At higher cooling rate, interlamellar spacing between Nd-rich platelets of the alloy was small, resulting in a lower saturated magnetization due to increased amounts of small particles after jet milling. With further decreasing cooling rate, the resultant larger interlamellar spacing led to too large particle sizes as well as a more irregular shape; thus deteriorated the magnetic properties of the final magnet. A model was developed to disclose the effects of particle sizes on the magnetic alignment process. In the current investigation, optimum magnetic properties of the final magnets were obtained with a cooling rate of 2.6 m/s for preparing the strip. The magnets made by conventionally cast ingot technique exhibited the lowest magnetic properties because of the slowest cooling rate.