Patent Description:
Permanent NdFeB magnets are based on the third-generation of rare earth materials, which have been intensively developed from up <NUM>. The magnetic material provides excellent magnetic properties at relatively low price. In recent years, it has attracted much attention in the fields of energy saving and environmental protection, energy generation, automotive, and robots. At present, the general process flow of the manufacturing process of sintered NdFeB magnets includes the following sequence of steps: strip casting of the magnetic alloy, hydrogen decrepitation of the alloy to smaller pieces, jet milling the alloy pieces to an alloy powder, magnetic field forming a blank from the alloy power by isostatic pressing, and sintering the blank followed by heat treatment. Before and after the jet milling step, few additives may be added and mixed with the material. These additives are mainly antioxidants, for example ester compounds. The uniformity of the industrial mixing process is generally evaluated by the C content by the additives. The specific process for adding additives along with jet milling is as follows:.

A conventional method of adding additives is generally as follows: At first, a ball valve of the powder container is opened. Then a funnel is put at the opening and finally the additives are poured through the funnel into the powder container. This method has the following disadvantages:.

<NUM>) After jet milling lubricants are usually added. The main function is to improve the orientation of the alloy powder particles during the press forming process and thereby improve the magnetic properties. There are generally the following four process routes known in the state of art for mixing after jet milling:.

Lubricants for the above-mentioned mixing processes are generally added through an opening hole of the powder tank or the main body of the mixing machine, which also has the shortcomings a) - c) described in the pre-powder mixing.

In <CIT> holes are opened on the side wall of the powder tank and a fluid pump is used for to adding the additives during jet milling process. Although the uniformity of the mixing is improved, the hole in the tank contacts with the powder during the mixing process, and is usually blocked by the mixture of additives and powder, which is inconvenient to clean. Also, the opening hole increases the risk of oxidation of the powder in the powder tank. <CIT> provides a solution similar to <CIT>, which uses pulsed airflow instead of a flow pump, which also have same contamination and blocking problems. <CIT> uses a tooling box above the powder tank. The bottom of the box has <NUM> to <NUM> micrometer pores. Since very small amount of antioxidant (additives) is added, and this tool box has a large floor area, significant amounts of the additive may remain. Also, during the adding process the additives may flow on the tank wall, and the powder will adhere to the container during the mixing process, which is not easy to clean up. These withdraws will inevitably affect the actual added amount of additives and the uniformity of the mixing. <CIT> discloses another method for adding additives before the jet milling starts. At one side of the raw material feeding pipe, the additive is atomized and added with relatively high-pressure gas. Since the actual amount of the adding additive is very small, the flow control of the additive is very difficult and the addition is intermittent. The nozzle inside the pipe is also easy to block, and the use of high-pressure gas poses a safety risk.

<CIT> discloses a device and method for the addition of liquid additives in the form of a spray during a jet milling step in a process for the manufacture of sintered NdFeB alloy magnets. The device comprises a storage barrel for the liquid additive and a weighing bucket which is in fluid communication with the storage barrel and is adapted for weighing a predetermined amount of the liquid additive. The device further comprises a powder container to accommodate NdFeB alloy material prior to or after jet milling, wherein the powder container includes an opening that is plugged with a blind flange. A connecting pipe is in fluid communication with the weighing bucket and a fluid atomization nozzle is located at the end of the connection pipe.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for the addition of liquid additives in the form of a spray during a jet milling step in a process for the manufacture of sintered NdFeB alloy magnets as defined in claim <NUM>. The device comprises:.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for the addition of liquid additives in the form of a spray during a jet milling step in a process for the manufacture of sintered NdFeB alloy magnets as defined in claim <NUM>. The method comprises the steps of:.

The blind flange further includes openings for air replacement, and an inert gas is introduced into the interior of the powder container via the openings of the blind flange.

Further embodiments of the invention could be learned from the dependent claims and following description.

To have a better understanding of the present invention, the examples set below provide illustrations of the present invention. The examples and the schematics of the device structure are only used to illustrate the present invention and do not limit the scope of the present invention.

<FIG> illustrates a device for the addition of liquid additives in the form of a spray during a jet milling step in a process for the manufacture of sintered NdFeB alloy magnets according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device comprises:.

A port to the connection pipe <NUM> is located at a bottom of the weighing bucket <NUM>. The weighing bucket <NUM> is designed in such a way that the weighed liquid additive is collected at the port to the connection pipe <NUM> and the weighing bucket <NUM> further includes a gas port adapted for applying a pressurized gas in a space above the collected liquid additive. The weighing bucket <NUM> further includes a weighing sensor <NUM> for accurately weighing the liquid additive. The load cell <NUM> is controlled by a controller unit <NUM>.

The device includes a switchable valve <NUM> adapted for opening and closing the connection tube <NUM>, a switchable valve <NUM> adapted for opening and closing the gas port, and the control unit <NUM> which is designed to control the switchable valves <NUM>, <NUM>. The device further includes a switchable valve <NUM> which may be used for exhausting gas from the weighing bucket <NUM>.

The storage barrel <NUM> is in fluid communication with the storage barrel <NUM> via a liquid line <NUM>. The device further includes a switchable valve <NUM> and a switchable valve <NUM> adapted for opening and closing the liquid line <NUM>. The control unit <NUM> is also designed to control the switchable valves <NUM>, <NUM>. Each of the switchable vales <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> - <NUM> may be a solenoid valve. The storage barrel <NUM> further includes a filter screen <NUM> for filtering impurities. The liquid line <NUM> may include a silicone hose, a first sleeve <NUM>-<NUM>, and a second sleeve <NUM>-<NUM>.

The blind flange <NUM> further includes openings <NUM>-<NUM> for air replacement, which is illustrated in <FIG>. A clamp <NUM> secures the blind flange <NUM> at the powder container <NUM>. The connection tube <NUM> may be divided into two separate pipelines which can be connected by a quick connector <NUM>. Pipeline <NUM> extends into the power container <NUM>. The device may further include a handle <NUM> and a butterfly valve <NUM>.

A method for the addition of liquid additives in the form of a spray during a jet milling step in a process for the manufacture of sintered NdFeB alloy magnets makes use of the above-mentioned device and comprises the steps of:.

The port to the connection pipe <NUM> is located at a bottom of the weighing bucket <NUM>. The weighing bucket <NUM> is designed in such a way that the weighed liquid additive is collected at the port to the connection pipe <NUM> and the weighing bucket <NUM> further includes a gas port adapted for applying a pressurized gas (specifically an inert gas, like nitrogen) in a space above the collected liquid additive. The pressurized gas is applied to the weighing bucket <NUM> via the gas port so as to spray the collected liquid additive into the powder container <NUM>.

The device includes the switchable valve <NUM> adapted for opening and closing the connection tube <NUM>, the switchable valve <NUM> adapted for opening and closing the gas port, and the control unit <NUM> which is designed to control the switchable valves <NUM>, <NUM>. The control unit <NUM> is opening the both switchable valves <NUM>, <NUM> for spraying the liquid additive into the powder container <NUM>.

The storage barrel <NUM> is in fluid communication with the storage barrel <NUM> via the liquid line <NUM>. The device further includes the switchable valves <NUM> and <NUM> adapted for opening and closing the liquid line <NUM>, and the control unit <NUM> is designed to control the switchable valves <NUM>, <NUM>. The control unit <NUM> is opening the at least one switchable valve <NUM>, <NUM> for introducing the liquid additive into the weighing bucket <NUM>.

The blind flange <NUM> includes openings <NUM>-<NUM> for air replacement, and an inert gas is introduced into the interior of the powder container <NUM> via the openings <NUM>-<NUM> of the blind flange <NUM>.

A first amount of liquid additive is introduced into the powder container <NUM> and mixed for <NUM> to <NUM> before starting jet milling, and a second amount of liquid additive is introduced into the powder container <NUM> and mixed for <NUM> to <NUM> after jet milling.

In other words, the invention provides an additive atomizing device for a NdFeB magnetic powder mixing process, which includes a storage barrel <NUM> for storing liquid additives. The cover of the barrel <NUM> has a sealing ring, and inside the barrel there is a filter screen <NUM> for filtering impurities in the additive. Preferably, the filter screen size is <NUM>-<NUM> mesh. The bottom of the storage barrel <NUM> is provided with a solenoid valve <NUM> and the conical bottom outlet of the storage barrel <NUM> is provided with a solenoid valve <NUM> and is used for weighing additives. The weighing bucket <NUM> is softly connected. The weighing bucket <NUM> is equipped with a weighing sensor <NUM>, which is electrically connected to the control unit <NUM> for setting the weight of additives. The weighing bucket <NUM> is also connected to the connecting pipe <NUM> by PU tubing through solenoid valve <NUM>. The solenoid valve <NUM> is used for air vent while weighting. The solenoid valve <NUM> is connected to the gas source, for example nitrogen. The connecting pipe <NUM> extends into the powder container <NUM> through the opening <NUM>-<NUM> of the blind flange <NUM>. One side of the connecting pipe <NUM> is provided with a quick connector <NUM>. The length of the pipeline <NUM> can be adjusted according to the size of the powder container. The appropriate length of the pipeline <NUM> is decided by an angle of the fluid atomizing nozzle <NUM> at the end of the pipeline <NUM> and the distance from the nozzle <NUM> to the powder inside the container <NUM> and the diameter of the container <NUM>. The blind flange <NUM> has two openings <NUM>-<NUM>, which are used to replace the air in the space between the powder container <NUM> and the blind flange <NUM>. This avoids the probability of oxygen contact of the powder. The blind flange <NUM> is sealed with the clamp <NUM> and connected to the powder container <NUM>.

Further, the outlet of the storage barrel <NUM> and the inlet of the weighing bucket <NUM> are connected by a soft connection, and the operation of the storage barrel <NUM> will not affect the weighing process of the weighing bucket <NUM>. Specifically, the outlet of the storage barrel <NUM> is connected to the solenoid valve <NUM>. The first sleeve <NUM>-<NUM> extends into the second sleeve <NUM>-<NUM> with a larger diameter. The first sleeve <NUM>-<NUM> and the second sleeve <NUM>-<NUM> are covered with a silicone hose <NUM>, and the first sleeve <NUM>-<NUM> is connected to the solenoid valve <NUM>. The second sleeve <NUM>-<NUM> is connected to the solenoid valve <NUM> and the solenoid valve <NUM> is connected to the inlet of the weighing bucket <NUM>.

The connecting pipe <NUM> is provided for adding the additives into the powder container <NUM>. The connecting pipe <NUM> is provided with a quick connector <NUM>, and the connecting pipe <NUM> can be divided into two parts by the quick connector <NUM>, one part of which is connected with the outlet pipe of the weighing bucket <NUM>. Thereby, it is easy to disassemble and clean the device. The other part goes deep into the powder container <NUM> and connects the fluid atomization nozzle <NUM> at its end. The length of the pipeline <NUM> is determined by the height of the powder in the powder container <NUM> and the spray coverage angle of the fluid atomization nozzle <NUM>. In this way, the atomized additives can cover the powder to the greatest extent.

The present invention provides an additive atomizing adding method of a neodymium iron boron magnetic during the powder mixing process. The additive is a liquid additive. The adding device as above is used. The adding methods are as follows:.

Further, the mixing process of NdFeB magnetic powder mixture is as follows:.

The present invention provides a neodymium iron boron powder with a smaller deviation in C content. The powder is made by jet milling and is obtained by using the device and method of the present invention. The powder and ester additives are mixed with a better mixture homogeneity, more specifically, when sampling from <NUM> different positions of the powder container. The samples C content standard deviation is <NUM> ppm or less, the extreme deviation is <NUM> ppm or less.

Using the NdFeB powder mentioned above, the present invention allows manufacturing a high-quality sintered NdFeB magnet by magnetic forming and sintering process. The NdFeB magnet C element content after sintering has relatively small deviation, more specifically, the C element content standard deviation in a single magnet blank is <NUM> ppm or less, the extreme deviation is <NUM> ppm or less. Sampling from <NUM> different positions of the sintering furnace, the C element content standard deviation is <NUM> ppm or less, the extreme deviation is <NUM> ppm or less.

The present invention may provide the following advantages:.

The is provided an atomizing liquid adding device and an adding method of a NdFeB magnetic powder mixing process. By adopting the device and the mixing method, the adding device does not directly contact the powder, and the air replacement process in the connecting part is unpieced, which can effectively avoid the oxidation of the powder during the additive adding process, and powder aggregation and blocking in the addition port are also avoided, which makes it easy to clean and maintain. Also, the atomized additive droplets are directly sprayed on the powder during addition, and will not be sprayed on the inner wall of the container to which will cause the powder agglomerate on the wall. This will increase the accuracy of the amount of additive and the mixture homogeneity, compared with the traditional one-time funnel addition method. It can effectively avoid local oxidation of the powder, which is helpful for obtaining high-performance magnets with uniform C content, and can shorten the powder mixing period.

The device may comprise a storage barrel containing a sieve screen, and a weighing bucket connected to the bottom of the storage barrel via flexible connection. A load sensor may be fixed to one side of the weighing bucket to weight the additive according to manual setting. The device further includes a connection pipe with a fluid atomizing nozzle at the end and a blind flange connected with the powder container. The powder container of this application is selected as the powder tank or the mixing machine. The blind flange is provided with three outlets, wherein two of them are used for air replacement in the interior of the powder container and one is used for putting through the connecting pipe <NUM>.

When adding additives, first connect the blind flange to the powder tank or the feeding port of the mixing machine with a gasket and connect them with a clamp. A butterfly valve is set in the opening of the powder tank or the mixing machine. The connecting part between the butterfly valves forms a displacement space. Replace the air in the connecting part with nitrogen or argon. Then, the connecting pipe is inserted into the powder tank or the mixing machine to a certain depth, and the weighed additive in the weighing bucket is atomized to the powder container through air pressure. Finally, the powder and the additive are mixed together. The device and method can obtain NdFeB powder with small deviation of C element content, which means a better mixture homogeneity of the additive and the powder; At the same time, the additive adding process is separated from the powder container body, which effectively avoids the oxidation of the powder and thus improve the mechanical properties and the consistency of the magnetic. Compared with the traditional way of adding the additive by pouring the additive into a funnel on the powder container, the additive and the powder are mixed more uniformly and the mixing cycle can be effectively shortened, particle agglomeration is also effectively avoided, which has high practical value. The solenoid valves and weighing sensor in this application are all electrically connected to the control system, and the control system can be easily implemented by conventional methods in this field, and will not be described in detail.

In the following examples, a device as illustrated in <FIG> has been used.

A tank of powder before jet milling and the powder weight was <NUM>, using the device of the present invention to atomize and add antioxidants, and then mixed on a three-dimensional mixer for <NUM> hours. During the jet milling process, <NUM> samples were taken to test the deviation of C element content in the powder.

After jet milling, two tanks of NdFeB powder weighted <NUM>, were taken into a V-type mixer, using the device of the present invention to atomize and add additive, and then mixed for 4hours. During the following magnetic powder forming process, <NUM> samples were taken to test the deviation of C element content in the powder.

After jet milling, two tanks of NdFeB powder weighted <NUM>, were taken into a V-type mixer, using the device of the present invention to atomize and add additive, and then mixed for 4hours. After the subsequent forming and sintering process, <NUM> blank magnets were sampled from the sintering furnace (corners and edge centers of the upper, middle, and lower layers and the body center) to test the deviation of C element content.

After jet milling, two tanks of NdFeB powder weighted <NUM>, were taken into a V-type mixer, using the device of the present invention to atomize and add additive, and then mixed for 4hours. After the subsequent forming and sintering process, took one sample from the furnace and according to <FIG>, the sample was sliced from top to bottom to test the deviation of C element content in a single magnet blank.

A tank of powder before jet milling and the powder weight was <NUM>, using a conventional method to add the same amount of additives from the opening on the cone wall of the powder container with a funnel, and then mixed on a three-dimensional mixer for <NUM> hours. During the jet milling process, <NUM> samples were taken to test the deviation of C element content in the powder.

After jet milling, two tanks of NdFeB powder weighted <NUM>, were pre-mixed in the powder tank with a three-dimensional mixer for <NUM> hours, and then took the <NUM> tanks of powder into a V-mixer for <NUM> hours. During the following magnetic powder forming process, <NUM> samples were taken to test the deviation of C element content in the powder.

After jet milling, two tanks of NdFeB powder weighted <NUM>, were pre-mixed in the powder tank with a three-dimensional mixer for <NUM> hours, and then took the <NUM> tanks of powder into a V-mixer for <NUM> hours. After the subsequent forming and sintering process, <NUM> blank magnets were sampled from the sintering furnace (corners and edge centers of the upper, middle, and lower layers and the body center) to test the deviation of C element content.

After jet milling, two tanks of NdFeB powder weighted <NUM>, were pre-mixed in the powder tank with a three-dimensional mixer for <NUM> hours, and then took the <NUM> tanks of powder into a V-mixer for <NUM> hours. After the subsequent forming and sintering process, took one sample from the furnace and according to <FIG>, the sample was sliced from top to bottom to test the deviation of C element content in a single magnet blank.

The C element content of the above examples are shown in table <NUM> to table <NUM> as follows:.

Table <NUM> shows <NUM> results of the C content deviation of the implementing example <NUM> and comparative example <NUM> during the jet milling process.

Table <NUM> shows <NUM> results of the C content deviation of the implementing example <NUM> and comparative example <NUM> during the magnetic forming process.

Table <NUM> shows the C content deviation of implementing example <NUM> and comparative example <NUM>.

Table <NUM> shows the deviation of C content results of the implementing example <NUM> and comparative example <NUM> according to <FIG> to slice a single blank from top to bottom. The deviation results of the above examples and comparative examples are shown in table <NUM>:
<IMG>.

For implementing example <NUM> and comparative example <NUM>: The accuracy of the amount of additive and the mixture homogeneity is increased, compared with the traditional one-time funnel addition method, it can effectively avoid local oxidation of the powder, which is helpful for obtaining high-performance magnets with uniform C content, and can shorten the powder mixing period 7ppm and 11ppm respectively. The [max-min] value of the C content are 7ppm and 23ppm. It's clear that the implementing of this present invention has a smaller C element content deviation, which means a better mixture homogeneity and conventional uniformity, besides, implementing example has a lower mixing cycle.

For implementing example <NUM> and comparative example <NUM> after jet milling: the standard deviation of the C content are 17ppm and 48ppm respectively, the [max-min] value of the C content are 48ppm and 147ppm, the implementing example of this present invention has a much smaller C content deviation and a obviously shorter mixing cycle.

For implementing example <NUM>, implementing example <NUM> and comparative example <NUM>, comparative example <NUM>: after powder magnetic forming and sintering process, the C element content deviation of the magnets made by the present invention are much smaller to magnets made by the conventional way. Which means a better consistency in magnetic performance.

In addition, according to the statistics on the yield of magnets, the defects of foreign matter in the magnets caused by the oxidation of the powder have been reduced from <NUM>% to <NUM>%.

Claim 1:
Device for the addition of liquid additives in the form of a spray during a jet milling step in a process for the manufacture of sintered NdFeB alloy magnets, wherein the device comprises:
a storage barrel (<NUM>) for the liquid additive;
a weighing bucket (<NUM>) which is in fluid communication with the storage barrel (<NUM>) and is adapted for weighing a predetermined amount of the liquid additive;
a powder container (<NUM>) to accommodate NdFeB alloy material prior to or after jet milling, wherein the powder container (<NUM>) includes an opening (<NUM>) that is plugged with a blind flange (<NUM>);
a connecting pipe (<NUM>), which is in fluid communication with the weighing bucket (<NUM>) and passes through an opening (<NUM>-<NUM>) of the blind flange (<NUM>) into the interior of the powder container (<NUM>);
a fluid atomization nozzle (<NUM>) located at the end of the connection pipe (<NUM>),
wherein the blind flange (<NUM>) further includes openings (<NUM>-<NUM>) for air replacement.