Coercivity mechanism of Sm(Co, Cu)5

The mechanism of the high intrinsic coercivity of the Sm(Co1-xCux)(5) (0 less than or equal to x < 1) system was studied by relating the coherency between the lattice constants of hexagonal Sm(Co, Cu)(5) and hcp Co to the coercive force. It was found analytically that the intrinsic coercive force reaches a maximum in the composition range from x = 0.6 to 0.8, where the lattice mismatch approaches zero, so that there is a strong correlation between lattice matching and coercive force. When a Sm ion was located within a Sm(Co, Cu)(5) grain and in the outmost edge of the a and c planes of its grain surrounded or not surrounded by the coherent Co phase, the crystal field parameter at each Sm3+ site was calculated using a point charge model under the assumption that the Co and Cu atoms located in a grain and the hcp Co atoms situated at the interface uniformly have a charge of 3/5 -. The results indicated that the Co phase precipitated coherently along the grain boundaries effectively enhances the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of Sm ions located in the outmost edges of the a and c planes of a Sm(Co, Cu)(5) grain. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.