Journal of Alloys and Compounds 423 (2006) 81–83

Magnetic properties of anisotropic Nd–Fe–B resin bonded magnets

D. Plusa a,∗ , B. Slusarek b , M. Dospial a , U. Kotlarczyk a , T. Mydlarz c
a Institute of Physics, Technical University of Czestochowa, Armii Krajowej 19, 42-200 Czestochowa, Poland
b Tele & Radio Research Institute, Ratuszowa 11, 03-450 Warsaw, Poland
c International Laboratory of Strong Magnetic Field and Low Temperatures, Gajownicka 95, Wrocław, Poland

Available online 31 January 2006

Abstract
The magnetic properties of an anisotropic, epoxy resin bonded magnet made from Magnequench powder of MQA-T type were investigated.
The magnetization reversal processes and the magnetic parameters were examined by measurement of virgin magnetization curve, the major and
sets of minor hysteresis loops. The coercivity as a function of maximum magnetizing field were determined. The field dependence of the reversible
and irreversible magnetization components during the magnetization and demagnetization processes was investigated by measuring sets of recoil
curves. As it results from the initial magnetization curve shape and the field dependence of coercivity the magnetization reversal mechanism
appeared to be the pinning one.
© 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PACS: 75.60.Jk; 75.60.Ej

Keywords: Bonded magnets; Magnetic measurements; Domain walls pinning; Magnetization reversal

1. Introduction melt-spinning route where very small grains of about 50 nm

diameter are surrounded by a thin layer of amorphous boundary
Bonded Nd–Fe–B magnets are prepared by mixing the hard phase. Coercivity and the magnetization reversal mechanism in
magnetic powder with polymer binder, followed by compres- HDDR processed bonded magnets originate from their unique
sion or injection moulding techniques. The hydrogenation– microstructure.
decomposition–desorption–recombination (HDDR) process is In this paper the magnetic properties and the coercivity mech-
one of the methods producing Nd–Fe–B powders for resin anism of an anisotropic HDDR bonded magnet have been stud-
bonded magnets [1]. HDDR-processed powders are usually ied.
isotropic and, as a consequence, the remanence and the max-
imum energy product of the bonded magnets made from them 2. Experimental procedures
are not too high. Magnets with better properties can be pro-
duced from anisotropic powder which can be obtained by The magnets used in this study were prepared from Magnequench MQA-
employing the HDDR process on the Nd–Fe–Co–B alloys T anisotropic HDDR powders by mixing them with 2.5 wt.% epoxy resin and
pressing into a cylindrical shaped matrix under the pressure of 900 MPa. Dur-
with small anisotropy-inducing additions of Ga, Zr, Nb or ing bonding and pressing an alignment magnetic field equal to 1200 kA/m was
Hf [2,3]. applied parallel to the pressure direction. The density of the bonded magnets
The HDDR processed powders have an unique microstruc- was equal to 6 g/cm3 .
ture. They consist of fine crystalline grains with the size dis- Magnetic measurements (the virgin magnetization curve, the major and
tribution from 100 to 900 nm. The size of most grains is about minor hysteresis loops and the sets of recoil curves measured during the initial
magnetization and demagnetization process) were performed by using a Bitter
300 nm which is comparable with the single domain size of the VSM in a magnetic field up to 14 T at International Laboratory of Strong Mag-
Nd2 Fe14 B phase. There are no grain boundary phases between netic Field and Low Temperatures, Wroclaw, Poland and a LakeShore VSM
grains which is quite different from the powder prepared by in a field up to 2 T at Technical University of Czestochowa. The differential
susceptibility as a function of an applied field was derived from the initial mag-
netization curve. The reversible Mrev and irreversible Mirr components of the
total magnetization M were determined from the recoil curves by the method
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 34 32 50 795; fax: +48 34 32 50 795. described elsewhere [4,5]. The VSM data were corrected for the demagnetizing
E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Plusa). field.

0925-8388/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2005.12.051
82 D. Plusa et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 423 (2006) 81–83

pinning mechanism. On the other hand magnets with high ini-

tial susceptibility are controlled by the nucleation mechanism
(sintered magnets). Large susceptibility in low fields for HDDR
processed magnets certifies that the domain walls exist in some
grains which can move freely under the application of a field.
Once the walls reach the grain boundaries they are pinned there
until the applied field overcomes the pinning field (at this field
the susceptibility possesses a peak value).
Fig. 3 presents the dependence of the coercivity derived from
the minor hysteresis loops on the initial field. The coercivity
increases almost linearly with increasing field up to 2 T and
achieves the saturation value when the internal field is about
3 T. Such behaviour indicates that with increasing field more and
more domain walls are removed from the pinning sites which is
in agreement with the initial magnetization curves.
In order to understand better the coercivity mechanism in
Fig. 1. Initial magnetization curve of the anisotropic HDDR-processed bonded
the magnets investigated the reversible Mrev and irreversible
Nd–Fe–B magnet. Mirr components of total magnetization were studied. The irre-
versible magnetization Mirr of a magnet with total magnetization
equal to M at a field H is the remanence when H is changed
3. Results and discussion
to zero. The reversible magnetization Mrev is the difference
M − Mirr [4,5]. In Fig. 4 the normalized reversible Mrev /MR and
The magnetic parameters determined from the major hys-
irreversible Mirr /MR components for the initial and demagne-
teresis loop are as follows: the saturation magnetization (at
tization curves versus an applied magnetic field are presented.
14 T) µ0 MS = 1.12 T, the remanence µ0 MR = 0.67 T, the coerciv-
It can be seen that the field dependences of irreversible com-
ity µ0 HcJ = 1.18 T. Fig. 1 shows the initial magnetization curve
ponent Mirr /MR during the initial magnetization (Fig. 4a) and
of the thermally demagnetized sample measured in the align-
demagnetization processes (Fig. 4b) are quite different. But in
ment direction in a field up to 14 T. As it can be seen from the
both cases the qualitative and quantitative changes of reversible
figure the magnetization curve rises slowly at low fields, exhibits
components Mrev /MR are similar. The irreversible component
an inflection point at a field of about 1 T and then rises gradually
Mirr /MR during the initial magnetization is very low and hardly
at higher fields. This behaviour is more evident in the inset of
depend on internal field up to about 0.8 T. In this range of fields
Fig. 1b. The changes in the initial magnetization are better seen
the irreversible component may be connected with unpinning
in the field dependence of the differential susceptibility shown in
of domain walls from grain boundaries. For higher fields it
Fig. 2. The initial susceptibility is large than decreases monoton-
increases very fast and almost linearly becoming greater than
ically and exhibits the maximum when the internal field is over
the reversible component at a field near to the sample coercivity
1 T. The observed behaviour is different from both the sintered
(∼1.2 T). For fields higher than 1.2 T the irreversible rotation
and rapidly quenched magnet. The magnetization reversal and
of magnetic moments can contribute to the irreversible Mirr /MR
coercivity of bonded magnets made from the rapidly quenched
component.
powders have low initial susceptibility and are controlled by

Fig. 2. Differential susceptibility curve of the anisotropic HDDR-processed Fig. 3. Dependence of coercivity of the anisotropic HDDR-processed bonded
bonded Nd–Fe–B magnet. magnet on the initial field.
 D. Plusa et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 423 (2006) 81–83 83

On the other hand, the initial reversible magnetization may

be connected with the free displacement of domain walls in
the multidomain grains, the bowing of domain walls pinned at
grain boundaries and the reversible rotation of magnetization
vector in single domain grains. Our results are in agreement with
domain structure study under an applied field for HDDR magnet
[6].

4. Summary

As it results from the investigations performed in this work

the coercivity of the anisotropic resin bonded magnets based on
Nd–Fe–Co–B is determined by the pinning of domain walls at
the grain boundaries. From a field dependence of the irreversible
and reversible magnetization components it can be concluded
that the main source of Mrev in fields lower than the coercivity
during both the initial magnetization and demagnetization pro-
cesses is the reversible rotation of magnetization in the single
domain grains.

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Fig. 4. Field dependence of the reduced reversible and irreversible components

of total magnetization during (a) the initial magnetization and (b) the demagne-
tization.