Research articlesCoercivity enhancement in hot deformed Nd2Fe14B-type magnets by doping low-melting RCu alloys (R = Nd, Dy, Nd + Dy)

•Doping R70Cu30 alloys (R = Nd, Dy, Nd + Dy) enhances coercivity of hot deformed NdFeB magnets.•Decreased gradient of Dy content from boundary to grain interior improves coercivity.•NdDyCu-doped magnet displays optimal enhancement efficiency of coercivity.•The magnets made from MQU-F powder with doping NdDyCu might be a potential way for mass production.

Magnetic properties of the anisotropic NdFeB magnets prepared by hot pressing followed by die-upsetting NdFeB MQU-F powders doped with low-melting RCu alloy powders were explored, where RCu stands for Nd70Cu30, Dy70Cu30 and (Nd0.5Dy0.5)70Cu30, respectively. In addition, the post-annealing at 600 °C was employed to modify the microstructures and the magnetic properties of the hot deformed magnets. It is found that doping RCu alloy powders is effective in enhancing the coercivity of the hot deformed NdFeB magnets from 15.1 kOe to 16.3-19.5 kOe. For Nd70Cu30-doped magnets, the increment of coercivity is only 1.2 kOe. Meanwhile, Dy70Cu30-doped and (Nd0.5Dy0.5)70Cu30-doped magnets show an almost identical enhancement of coercivity of about 4.4 kOe. Importantly, the latter magnet shows a beneficial effect of reducing the usage of Dy from 1.6 wt% to 0.8 wt%. TEM analysis shows that nonmagnetic Nd, Dy and Cu appear at grain boundary and isolate the magnetic grains, leading to an enhancement of coercivity. Doping lower melting point Dy-lean (Nd0.5Dy0.5)70Cu30 powders into commercial MQU-F powders for making high coercivity hot deformed NdFeB magnets might be a potential and economic way for mass production.