Method for making rare-earth element containing permanent magnets

Abstract: A method for making rare-earth permanent magnets wherein a molten mass (8) of a rare-earth magnet alloy is produced such as by induction melting and while in a protective atmosphere is introduced in the form of a stream (12) into a chamber (14) having a protective atmosphere and a bottom portion containing a cooling medium (22), such as a cryogenic liquid which may be liquid argon. After cooling and solidification, the alloy is collected from the chamber (14) and comminuted to produce particles. The particles are formed into a magnet body. Alternatively, the stream (12) may be atomized, as by striking the same with a jet (18) of inert gas, to produce discrete droplets (20), which droplets are directed to the cooling medium (22) at the chamber bottom for cooling, solidification and collection.

Description: This invention relates to a method for making rare-earth permanent magnets. It is known for example from FR-A-1 529 048 to produce permanent magnets containing at least one rare-earth element as a significant alloying constituent, which elements may be for example samarium, praseodymium, neodymium, lanthanum, cerium, yttrium, or mischmetal. These magnets are conventionally produced by the vacuum induction melting of a prealloyed charge to produce a molten mass of the desired magnet alloy composition. The molten mass is poured into an ingot mould for solidification. The solidified ingot is then comminuted to form fine particles of the order of 2 to 5 microns by an initial crushing operation followed by ball milling or jet milling to final particle size. The particles so produced are formed into the desired magnet body either by cold pressing followed by sintering or by the use of a plastic binder or other low-melting point material suitable for use as a binder within which the magnetic particles are embedded to form the magnet body. DE-B-1 944 432 and EP-A-0 125 347 both also disclose a method of making rare-earth permanent magnets in which molten alloy is cooled and solidified in a mould and the cast alloy is then comminuted by coarse and then fine pulverization to obtain particles for compaction into a magnet body. Because of the relatively slow solidification rate of the ingot from which the particles are made, the ingot and thus the particles are not uniform as a result of ingot segregation during cooling. Also, during the comminuting operation the small particles are subjected to surface oxidation. In addition, during the comminuting operation the mechanical working incident thereto introduces stresses and strains in the resulting particles, as well as defects in the particles introduced by the grinding medium. All of these factors in the conventional practice of making rareearth permanent magnets contribute to nonhomogeneity with respect to the composition of the resulting magnet body as well as non-uniformity thereof. This in turn adversely affects the magnetic properties. FR-A-2 074 526 discloses the atomization and cryogenic quenching of powders of tool steel and superalloys. It is in no way concerned with the making of rare-earth permanent magnets. EP-A-108 474 discloses rare-earth permanent magnet alloys of a kind which can be used in the method of the present invention. It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing rare-earth permanent magnets wherein a magnet body may be produced that is characterized by excellent compositional homogeneity and absence of defects and impurities. A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing particles from which a permanent maget body may be manufactured, which particles are substantially compositionally uniform, homogenous and lacking in impurities and defects. The present invention provides a method for making rare-earth permanent magnets, comprising the steps of: (a) producing a molten mass of a rare-earth magnet alloy in a protective atmosphere; (b) cooling said alloy; (c) producing particles of the alloy; and (d) compacting said particles into a magnet body, characterised in that; (e) said molten mass is maintained in the protective atmosphere while introduced as a stream into an atomizing chamber having a protective atmosphere; and said method further comprises the steps of; (f) atomizing said stream with an inert gas to form droplets; (g) cooling and collecting the droplets in a bottom portion of the chamber to produce solidified particles; (h) comminuting the cooled alloy to reduce the particle size thereof; whereby the particles produced have a more uniform and homogenous microstructure and enhanced magnetic properties relative to particles produced by comminution of a casting of said alloy. The present invention will be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic showing of apparatus suitable for use with the method of the invention; Figure 2 is a graph relating to a preferred rare-earth permanent magnet alloy composition with which the method of the invention finds particular utility and showing the energy product attainable by the use thereof; and Figure 3 is a graph similar to Fig. 2 for the same composition showing the coercive force obtainable by the use thereof in accordance with the practice of the invention. Broadly, in accordance with the present invention, the method comprises producing a molten mass of the desired rare-earth magnet alloy, such as by induction melting in the well known manner, and while maintaining the molten mass in a protective atmosphere a stream thereof is introduced into a chamber, also having a protective atmosphere, and with a bottom portion containing a cooling medium, e.g., a cryogenic liquid, such as liquid argon. The stream is struck as it enters the chamber with an atomizing medium, such as argon gas, to form droplets, which droplets are cooled, solidified and collected in either the cryogenic liquid on a bottom plate cooled by the cryogenic liquid or other suitable cooling medium. Thereafter, the resulting particles are removed from the chamber and comminuted to reduce the particle size thereof, and used to form a magnet body. The stream may be atomized by the use of a jet of an inert fluid such as argon gas. Because of the rapid solidification of the rare earth magnet alloy it is of relatively uniform composition throughout, which uniformity is maintained in the particles produced therefrom. Consequently, the particles are characterized by a uniform and homogeneous microstructure, which serves to enhance the magnetic properties of magnets produced therefrom. This is in contrast to the comminuting of a conventional ingot casting subjected to relatively slow cooling rates and thus segregation throughout the solidified ingot. The particles produced are typically within the size range of 1 to 5 microns. Although the method of the invention has utility generally with rare earth permanent magnet alloys, as will be shown in detail hereinafter, it has particular utility with a rare earth magnet alloy within the composition limits, in weight percent, 35 to 38 neodymium, 60 to 64.8 iron and 0.2 to 2 boron. The neodymium referred to in the specification and claims hereof with respect to this alloy has reference to "effective neodymium." Effective neodymium is the total neodymium minus that portion thereof that reacts with the oxygen present to form Nd₂ O₃ . This amount of neodymium is determined as follows: % Nd (effective) = % Nd (total) - 6 x %0₂ For example, a 35% neodymium-containing alloy having 0.121% oxygen has an effective neodymium of 34.28%. With the method of the invention in producing rare-earth magnets and powders for use in the manufacture thereof and specifically with regard to the specific alloy compositions set forth above, drastically improved magnetic properties, particularly induction and coercive force, are produced. Coercive force is improved with homogeneity of the grains of the particles from which the magnet is made from the standpoint of both metallurgical composition and absence of defects. The finer the particles the less will be the compositional variation within the grains thereof. Since the particles produced in accordance with the method of the invention are of improved homogeneity over particles resulting from conventional practices this compositional homogeneity within the grains is maximised by the invention. Improved induction results from fine particle sizes with correspondingly reduced crystals within each particle. This permits maximum orientation to in turn maximize induction. In accordance with the method of the invention, as will be demonstrated hereinafter, it is possible to achieve these desired very fine particles for purposes of improving induction without the attendant disadvantages of increased stress and strain as a result of the great amount of mechanical work during comminution and without increasing defects as a result thereof. In accordance with the method of the invention, Figure 1 is a schematic showing of apparatus for use therewith. As shown in Fig. 1 molten alloy is poured from a tiltable furnace 2 to a tundish 4. The tundish and furnace are in an enclosure 6 providing a protective atmosphere. The molten alloy, designated as 8, is of a prealloyed rare-earth permanent magnet alloy. In the bottom of the tundish 4 there is a nozzle 10 through which the metal from the tundish in the form of a stream 12 enters a chamber 14 having a protective atmosphere therein. The stream 12 is atomized by jets 16 which direct streams of atomizing gas 18 onto the stream 12 to atomize the same into droplets 20. The droplets fall to the bottom of the chamber and are cooled in cryogenic liquid 22 for subsequent solidification and removal. Upon removal from the chamber 14, the solidified alloy is comminuted to the desired particle size. In accordance with the invention the solidification rate of the atmoized particles would be of the order of 1000°C per second to 1,000,000°C per second depending upon the particle size distribution. This extremely rapid solidification rate prevents any variation in the structure of the particles resulting from cooling. The invention as described is beneficial for use with rare-earth magnet alloys in general which alloys would contain for example 20 to 40% of at least one rare-earth element which would include samarium, neodymium, praseodymium, lanthanum, cerium, yttrium and mischmetal. The remainder of the alloy would be at least one element from the group cobalt, iron or a transition metal such as nickel or copper. Boron up to about 2% by weight as well as aluminium up to about 10% by weight could also be included. By way of a specific example to demonstrate the homogeneity of the particles produced in accordance with the method of the invention, as compared with conventional vacuum induction melted, ingot cast and ground particles, a vacuum induction melt of the following composition, in weight percent, was produced: Neodymium 32.58 Iron 66.44 Boron 0.98 This alloy was conventionally ingot cast and ground to the particle sizes set forth in Table I and was also, in accordance with the method of the invention, atomized by the use of an argon gas jet and quenched in liquid argon. The as-quenched particles were screened to the size fractions set forth in Table I and tested by Curie temperature measurements to determine the metallurgical phases thereof. As may be seen from Table I, in the conventionally ingot cast alloy two phases were present in each instance, namely the tetragonal Nd₁₅ Fe₈₀ B₅ and the Fe₂ B phases. For the particles produced in accordance with the invention only the former phase was present indicating complete homogeneity. To demonstrate a method wherein the stream of the rare-earth magnet alloy is introduced directly to the cryogenic liquid or liquid cooled plate for cooling and solidification, without atomization, various rare-earth magnet alloys of the compositions MnCo₅, SmCo₅ Nd, FE, B and Sm₂ Co₁₇ were vacuum induction melted and solidified at various rates characteristic of the method used. Oxygen measurements were made using standard chemical analysis. These are reported in Table II. A stream of the alloy was introduced to a chamber having liquid argon in the bottom thereof which served to rapidly cool the molten alloy stream. During subsequent comminution it was determined that this material was more amenable to the formation of desired fine particles than conventional cast material of the same alloy composition. This is demonstrated by the data set forth in Table II wherein the oxygen content of the conventional powder was significantly higher than comparable size powder produced both by liquid argon quenching of atomized molten alloy, in accordance with the invention, and molten alloy introduced directly without atomization to the liquid argon for cooling and solidification. Table III demonstrates the improvement in magnetic properties, namely induction ratios (B r /B s ) and coercive force, for vacuum induction melted rare-earth magnet alloy of the following composition produced both by conventional ingot casting and also in accordance with the invention by atomization and quenching in liquid argon. The composition of the alloy, in percent by weight, is as follows: Neodymium 32.58 Iron 66.44 Boron 0.98 It may be seen from Table III that with a particle size of less than 74 µm produced by the method of the invention the coercive force is similar to the much finer 2.8 µm particle produced in accordance with conventional practice. Both the coercive force and induction ratio (B r /B s ) values for rare-earth magnet alloy particles show a drastic improvement at a particle size between 88 and 74 µm. The data in Table IV demonstrates the improvement in coercive force achieved with the method of the invention with a SmCo₅ alloy, as compared to this same alloy conventionally ingot cast and ground to form particles for use in producing a permanent magnet. In this test, with both the powder produced in accordance with the invention and the conventionally produced powder the powder was loaded into a die cavity and a magnetic field was applied to the powder to orient the same. The powder was then compressed during application of the magnetic field. The cold-pressed compact was then sintered at a temperature of 2050°F (1121°C), followed by a heat treatment at 1750°F (954°C) for 3 hours. As may be seen from Table IV the coercive force values achieved in accordance with the method of the invention for all size ranges of powder were drastically improved over the values achieved with the conventional practice. The atomized particles produced in accordance with the invention were divided into the reported size fractions by a screening operation and used to produce the magnet body without further grinding. Table V reports magnets produced from this same powder as used in the test reported in Table IV with the powder being further comminuted to a 3 µm powder size by a conventional jet milling operation. This powder was compared to conventional ingot cast, ground and jet milled powder of the same 3-µm size. As may be seen from Table V there is a significant improvement in coercive force as demonstrated by the magnets produced by the powder manufactured in accordance with the invention. It has been determined that if the method of the invention is used with a rare-earth magnet alloy composition weight percent 35 to 38 neodymium, 60 to 64.8 iron and 0.2 to 2 boron, it is possible to achieve drastic improvement with regard to energy product (BH max ) of the order of 30,000,000 gauss oersteds ***) minimum. To demonstrate this, rare-earth magnet alloys of the following compositions, in weight percent, were produced for testing: These rare-earth magnet alloy compositions were used to produce particles for the manufacture of permanent magnet bodies in accordance with the invention by argon gas atomization and liquid argon quenching. As may be seen from Fig. 2 maximum energy product values are achieved within the neodymium range of approximately 35 to 38% by weight. Likewise, as may be seen in Fig. 3 optimum coercive force of 10,000 oersteds or greater is achieved within this same neodymium range. Consequently, the method of the invention finds particular utility with an alloy having neodymium within the range of 35 to 38%, iron within the range of 60 to 64.8% and boron within the range of 0.2 to 2%.

Claims: A method for making rare-earth permanent magnets, comprising the steps of: (a) producing a molten mass (8) of a rare-earth magnet alloy in a protective atmosphere; (b) cooling said alloy; (c) producing particles of the alloy; and (d) compacting said particles into a magnet body, characterised in that; (e) said molten mas (8) is maintained in the protective atmosphere while introduced as a stream (12) into an atomizing chamber (14) having a protective atmosphere; and said method further comprises the steps of; (f) atomizing said stream (12) with an inert gas (18) to form droplets (20); (g) cooling and collecting the droplets (20) in a bottom portion of the chamber (14) to produce solidified particles; (h) comminuting the cooled alloy to reduce the particle size thereof; whereby the particles produced have a more uniform and homogenous microstructure and enhanced magnetic properties relative to particles produced by comminution of a casting of said alloy. A method according to claim 1 wherein the cooled alloy is comminuted to produced particles in the range 1 to 5 µm which have a more uniform and homogenous microstructure and enhanced magnetic properties relative to particles within the same size range produced by comminution of a casting of said alloy. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the particles are cooled by a cooling medium (22) contained in the bottom portion of the chamber (14). A method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said molten mass (8) of said rare-earth magnet alloy is produced by vacuum induction melting. A method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said cooling medium is a cryogenic liquid (22). A method according to claim 5, wherein said cryogenic liquid is liquid argon and said chamber has an argon atmosphere. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said inert gas is argon gas. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said rare-earth magnet alloy has a composition, in weight percent, 35 to 38 neodymium, 60 to 64.8 iron and 0.2 to 2 boron.

Inventors: DULIS EDWARD J, NARASIMHAN KALATHUR S V L, DULIS, EDWARD J., NARASIMHAN, KALATHUR S.V.L.
Applicants: CRUCIBLE MATERIALS CORP, CRUCIBLE MATERIALS CORPORATION
Application year: 1985
Main classification: H01F1
IPC codes: H01F41, B22F9, C22C33, H01F1, C22C1