Abstract:During the process of directional solidification, laser remelting/solidification in the layer on sintered magnets, die-upsetting of cast magnets, or die-upsetting of nano-composites, the arrangements of the easy-magnetization-axes of the hard magnetic phases (Nd₂Fe₁₄B, SmCo₅ or Sm₂Co₁₇ type) in their designed directions have been studied. In Fe-Pt nano-composite magnets, attempts have been taken to promote phase transformation from disordered, soft magnetic A1 to ordered, hard magnetic L1₀ FePt phase at reduced temperatures. The dependence of the magnetization and reversal magnetization processes on the microstructures, involving the morphology and three critical sizes of particles of the FePt nano-composite magnets, are summarized. With the decrease of the nominal thickness of the anisotropic FePt film epitaxially grown on the single crystal MgO (001) substrate, the reversal magnetization process firstly changes from full domain wall displacement to partial magnetic wall pinning related to the morphology change, where the coercive force increases abruptly. The reversal magnetization process secondly changes from magnetic wall pinning to incoherent magnetization rotation associated with the particles being below the first critical size at which multi-domain particles turn into single domain ones, where the coercive force is still increased. And the reversal magnetization mode thirdly changes from incoherent to coherent rotation referred to the second critical size, where the increase of the coercive force keeps on. However, when the particle size decreases to approach the third critical size where the particles turn into the supperparamagnetic state, the coercive force begins to decrease due to the interplay of the size effect and the incomplete ordering induced by the size effect. Meanwhile, due to the size effect, Curie temperature of the ultra-small FePt particles reduces.

Key words: permanent magnets; arrangement of easy-magnetization-axis; hard magnetic phases; nano-composite magnets; mechanism of magnetization and reversal magnetization ; L1₀ FePt; ordering; coercivity; size effect