Coercivity Recovery Effect of Sm-Fe-Cu-Al Alloy on Sm₂Fe₁₇N₃ Magnet

The potential of a Sm-Fe-Cu-Al binder for improvement of the magnetic properties of Sm2Fe17N3 was examined. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation of a Sm-Fe-Cu-Al alloy-bonded Sm₂Fe₁₇N₃ magnet which showed high coercivity revealed that the Sm-Fe-Cu-Al alloy had an effect of removing the surface oxide layer of the Sm₂ Fe₁₇N₃ grains. However, the Sm-Fe-Cu-Al binder was contaminated by carbon and nitrogen, which originated from the organic solvent used as the milling medium during pulverization. To prevent carbon and nitrogen contamination, the Sm-Fe- Cu-Al alloy was added directly on the surface of the Sm₂Fe₁₇N₃ grains by sputtering. Comparing the recovered coercivity per unit amount of the added binder the uncontaminated binder-coated sample had a higher coercivity recovery effect than the milled binder-added sample. These results suggested that sufficient addition of the contamination-free Sm-Fe-Cu-Al binder has the possibility to reduce the amount of binder necessary to produce a high coercive Sm₂Fe₁₇N₃ magnet.