Effect of Ce addition on the glass-forming ability and hard-magnetic properties of the Nd-Fe-Al bulk metallic glasses

The influence of Ce addition on the glass-forming ability (GFA) and hard-magnetic properties of the Nd60 − xCexFe30Al10 (x = 0 − 35) alloy prepared by suction casting have been investigated. The glass-forming ability of the as-cast rods increased with the addition of Ce content from x = 0 to x = 30, and then decreased for x = 35. The as-cast rods with a composition of x = 0 and x = 30 contained two amorphous magnetic phases including Fe-rich regions and Nd-rich regions characterized by the Curie temperature Tc1 and Tc2. The Ce atoms may be unevenly distributed in the two magnetic phases, which prefer to substitute Nd in the low Tc phase. All the alloys exhibit hard magnetic behavior, while the room-temperature coercivity and remanence gradually decrease with the Ce addition. The saturation magnetization (Ms), remanence (Mr) and coercivity (iHc) of the alloy for x = 30 with the best glass-forming ability are 16.30 Am2/kg, 10.22 Am2/kg and 162.31 kA/m, respectively.