Amorphous-crystalline state transformation induced by annealing in R2Fe14B (RÂ =Â Nd, Er) compounds

Magnetization and neutron diffraction measurements have been carried out to study evolution of structure and magnetic states of amorphous Nd2Fe14B and Er2Fe14B alloys under isothermal annealing at 295-1025 K. The amorphization have been performed by neutron irradiation which provides a homogeneous state in different with other methods of amorphization. The annealing induces a rise of α-Fe phase content in alloys and a recrystallization into Nd2Fe14B-type phase. Neutron diffraction data show that the recrystallization occurs over narrow temperature interval (590-638) K in Er2Fe14B and at around 800 K in Nd2Fe14B. Magnetic measurements testify that in both samples the magnetization and coercive field increase with annealing temperature above 800 K.