Morphology and magnetic properties of SmCo3/α-Fe nanocomposite magnets prepared via severe plastic deformation

We report bulk SmCo3/alpha-Fe nanocomposite magnets prepared via high energy ball milling and warm compaction. The evolution of structure and magnetic properties with soft phase fraction have been systematically studied. Microstructural studies revealed that grain size of the nanocomposite magnets can be controlled below 20 nm with a homogeneous distribution of alpha-Fe phase in the matrix of hard magnetic SmCo3 phase after severe plastic deformation. The refinement of the hard and soft phases morphology in nanoscale leads to effective inter-phase exchange coupling that gives rise to single-phase-like demagnetization behavior with enhanced remanence and maximum energy product (BH)(max). The (BH)(max) up to 13.5 MGOe in the isotropic SmCo3/alpha-Fe nanocomposites with 25wt.% of the soft phase has been obtained. Magnetic characterization at elevated temperatures shows that the nanocomposite SmCo3/alpha-Fe magnets have improved energy product compared to the single-phase SmCo3 magnets. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.