Phase Formation,Microstructure, and Magnetic Properties of Nd14.5Fe79.3B6.2 Melt-Spun Ribbons with Different Ce and Y Substitutions

Phase formation and microstructure of (Nd_1-2xCe_xY_x)_14.5Fe_79.3B_6.2 (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25) alloys were studied experimentally. The results reveal that (Nd_1-2xCe_xY_x)_14.5Fe_79.3B_6.2 annealed alloys show (NdCeY)₂Fe₁₄B phase with the tetragonal Nd₂Fe₁₄B-typed structure (space group P4₂/mnm) and rich-RE (α-Nd) phase, while (Nd_1-2xCe_xY_x)_14.5Fe_79.3B_6.2 ribbons prepared by melt-spun technology are composed of (NdCeY)₂Fe₁₄B phase, α-Nd phase and α-Fe phase, except for the ribbon with x = 0.25, which consists of additional CeFe₂ phase. On the other hand, magnetic properties of (Nd_1-2xCe_xY_x)_14.5Fe_79.3B_6.2 melt-spun ribbons were measured by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The measured results show that the remanence (B_r) and the coercivity (H_cj) of the melt-spun ribbons decrease with the increase of Ce and Y substitutions, while the maximum magnetic energy product ((BH)_max) of the ribbons decreases and then increases. The tendency of magnetic properties of the ribbons could result from the co-substitution of Ce and Y for Nd in Nd₂Fe₁₄B phase and different phase constitutions. It was found that the H_cj of the ribbon with x = 0.20 is relatively high to be 9.01 kOe, while the (BH)_max of the ribbon with x = 0.25 still reaches to be 9.06 MGOe. It suggests that magnetic properties of Nd-Fe-B ribbons with Ce and Y co-substitution could be tunable through alloy composition and phase formation to fabricate novel Nd-Fe-B magnets with low costs and high performance.