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Development of Mischmetal-Fe-Co-B Permanent Magnet Alloys via High-Throughput Methods
Rakesh P Chaudhary1, Kinjal H Gandha1, Fanqiang Meng1,2
1The Critical Materials Institute, Ames Laboratory (U.S. Department of Energy), Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
ACS Combinatorial Science
|March 26, 2020
Summary
Researchers developed new permanent magnets using additive manufacturing and melt-spinning. These magnets reduce critical rare-earth elements like neodymium, offering high performance and Curie temperatures around 450°C.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
- Additive Manufacturing
Background:
- Developing high-performance permanent magnets with reduced reliance on critical rare-earth elements is a significant challenge.
- Mischmetal (MM) alloys offer a potential alternative to traditional rare-earth magnets.
- Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) enables rapid synthesis and evaluation of novel alloy compositions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize and characterize R2TM14B alloys using LENS for high-temperature permanent magnet applications.
- To explore the effects of substituting iron with cobalt and reducing neodymium content using mischmetal.
- To investigate the impact of TiC additions on the magnetic properties of melt-spun nanostructured ribbons.
Main Methods:
- Additive manufacturing via Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) for rapid alloy library synthesis.
- High-throughput characterization of magnetic and thermal properties.
- Melt-spinning techniques to produce nanostructured ribbons from selected compositions.
- Structural and magnetic property analysis (coercivity, energy product).
Main Results:
- Identified R2TM14B alloy compositions with high Curie temperatures (Tc ~ 450°C) through Fe-Co substitution.
- Achieved a 4-fold reduction in neodymium content by incorporating Ce- and La-rich mischmetal.
- Melt-spun ribbons without TiC exhibited maximum coercivity (Hc) of 5.8 kOe and energy product ((BH)max) of 8.5 MGOe.
- TiC additions as grain refiners in melt-spun ribbons resulted in Hc of 4.9 kOe and (BH)max of 9.8 MGOe, with homogeneous grain refinement.
Conclusions:
- LENS is effective for rapid screening of permanent magnet alloy compositions.
- Substitution strategies allow for reduced critical rare-earth content while maintaining high Curie temperatures.
- TiC addition enhances the energy product in nanostructured R2TM14B ribbons through grain refinement.
