Structure and magnetic properties of melt-spun Sm-Fe-Nb ribbons and their nitrides
National Engineering Research Center for Rare Earth Materials,General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals,Grirem Advanced Materials Co. Ltd.
收稿日期:13 November 2017
基金:financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51501016);the National Key Research and Development Program (No.2016YFB0700902);
Structure and magnetic properties of melt-spun Sm-Fe-Nb ribbons and their nitrides
Wen-Long Yan Yang Luo Dun-Bo Yu Gui-Yong Wu Ning-Tao Quan Yuan-Fei Yang Hai-Jun Peng Zi-Long Wang
National Engineering Research Center for Rare Earth Materials,General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals,Grirem Advanced Materials Co. Ltd.
Abstract:
SmFe10-xNbx(x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) ribbons and their nitrides were prepared by melt-spinning, followed by annealing and subsequent nitriding. The structure and magnetic properties were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction(XRD) using the Rietveld method, vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM), transmission electron microscope(TEM) and Mossbauer spectroscopy. XRD analysis shows that the addition of Nb can impede the precipitation of Sm2 Fe17 and a-Fe phases and the Nb atoms occupy 2 e site in the alloys. At 300 K, the mean hyperfine fields of 2 e site are 29.58 T with Nb doping at x = 0.1 and the corresponding Curie temperature is 552 K. The optimal properties of remanence of Br = 0.9 T, intrinsic coercivity of Hcj= 741.5 kA·m-1, and maximum magnetic energy product of(BH)max= 124.2 kJ·m-3 are gained at x = 0.10 in the nitrides.
Keyword:
Melt-spinning; SmFe10-xNbx powders; Magnetic properties; XRD Rietveld; Mssbauer spectroscopy;
Author: Yang Luo e-mail:eluoyang@foxmail.com;
Received: 13 November 2017
1 Introduction
The SmFe-based alloys have been considered as a potential materials for the permanent magnet application,such as Th2Zn17-type Sm2Fe17Nx
2 Experimental
Various master alloys with nominal composition of SmFe10-xNbx (x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3) were prepared by induction melting Sm (99.9%),Fe (99.9%),and Nb(99.9%) in Ar gas atmosphere.An extra amount of 10 wt%Sm was added to compensate the weight losses during melt-spinning and induction melting process.The molten ingots were ejected through an orifice of 0.9 mm in diameter at the bottom of a quartz crucible.All ribbons were prepared by melt-spinning onto a rotating Cu-disk at50 m·s-1 surface velocity.Subsequently,the ribbons were annealed at 750℃for 1 h in vacuum and rapidly quenched.Then,the annealed SmFe10-xNbx powders were nitrided at 460℃for 16 h in pure nitrogen atmosphere.The crystal structure of ribbons was measured using X-ray diffractometer (XRD,Rigaku SmartLab) with Co Kαradiation,and the data were processed by Rietveld refinement with Rigaku plus software.The Mossbauer spectra were carried out by Mossbauer spectroscope (MS-500).The thermomagnetic curves of the samples were tested using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM,Quantum Design VersaLab) with an applied field of 79.6 kA·m-1The magnetic hysteresis loop of the samples was measured at 300 K using a VSM with a maximum field of2388 kA·m-1.Microstructures of as-annealed ribbons were observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM,FEI TECNAI F20).
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Phase formation and structure
Figure 1 shows XRD patterns of SmFe10-xNbx (x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3) alloys quenched at wheel velocities of 50 m·s-1and annealed in vacuum at 750℃for 1 h.For SmFe10-xNbx (x=0) alloy,as it can be seen from Fig.1b,the main phase is the hexagonal TbCu7-type structure,accompanying with a small amount of Sm2Fe17 andα-Fe phases.With the addition of the Nb,Sm2Fe17 andα-Fe phases are faded away.It can be inferred that the addition of Nb can effectively impede the precipitation of Sm2Fe17andα-Fe phases and stabilize the TbCu7-type metastable SmFe9 phase in the melt-spun alloys.Some amorphous phases can be seen from Fig.1a when Nb doping at x=0.3,because the addition of Nb could increase the ability of forming the amorphous phases in the melt-spun alloys.Figure 1c shows that the main diffraction peaks shift toward lower Bragg angles because Nb enters the lattice of SmFe9 alloys.However,with the content of Nb increasing (x≥0.2),the main peaks no longer shift to lower angles due to saturation of Nb in the alloys.
Rietveld refinement method was used to analyze the occupation of Nb atoms in alloys.The results of SmFe10-xNbx (x=0.1) as a representative sample are shown in Fig.2 with good fitting between the measured and calculated profiles.The results displayed in Table 1show that the Nb atoms enter the lattice of SmFe9 alloys and share the 2e lattice site with Fe atoms,which is consistent with the results in Fig.1c,whereas the 3g and 61sites are totally occupied by Fe atoms.
3.2 Curie temperature and hyperfine structure of as-annealed ribbons
As shown in Fig.3,the typical thermomagnetic behaviors of as-annealed SmFe10-xNbx (x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3) samples were measured at a magnetic field of 79.6 kA·m-1.The Curie temperature of the SmFe10-xNbx (x=0.1) sample increases from 452 K (x=0) to 552 K (x=0.1).Clearly,this can be attributed to the enhancement of the Fe2e-Fe2e exchange interactions
Figure 4 shows the Mossbauer spectra of SmFe10-xNbx(x=0,0.1,0.2) samples measured at 300 K.The spectrum profiles are similar for the three samples,and the hyperfine field of three Fe atom lattice sites increases firstly and then decreases with the increment of Nb content which can be seen from Fig.5a.However,the hyperfine field of 2e dumbbell sites is obviously larger than that of 3g and 61when Nb doing at x=0.1,which can be concluded that the added Nb atoms share the 2e lattice site with Fe atoms in the alloys.The hyperfine field has the greatest value of29.58 T when Nb doping at x=0.10 because the Fe-Fe exchange interactions can be enhanced by the addition of Nb,which is consistent with the change in Curie temperature.Moreover,the larger the mean hyperfine field is,the greater the iron moment is,because the iron moment can be deduced using the conversion factor 15.60
Fig.1 XRD patterns of SmFe10-xNbx (x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3) ribbons:a melt-spun,b annealed,and c main peak amplification of annealed
Fig.2 Rietveld analysis for sample SmFe10-xNbx (x=0.1)
Table 1 TbCu7-type structure characteristics resulting from Rietveld refinement for samples
Fig.3 M-T curves of as-annealed SmFe10-xNbx (x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3) ribbons with TbCu7-type structure
Fig.4 Mossbauer spectra of SmFe10-xNbx (x=0,0.1,0.2) samples measured at 300 K
3.3 Magnetic properties after nitridation
Nitrides of SmFe10-xNbx (x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3) alloys are obtained by melt-spun,annealing at 750℃for 1 h in vacuum and nitriding at 460℃for 16 h in nitrogen atmosphere.Figure 6a shows the hysteresis loop of the nitride powders of SmFe10-xNbx (x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3),which were measured in a maximum applied field of+2388 kA·m-1.Figure 6b shows XRD patterns of SmFe9.9Nb0.1 alloys with different conditions treatment.As expected,the diffraction peaks of annealed and melt-spun ribbons are similar,and the diffraction peaks of the nitrides shift toward the lower Bragg angles due to lattice expansion
Fig.5 Mossbauer parameters of SmFe10-xNbx (x=0,0.1,0.2) samples measured at 300 K:a hyperfine field,b isomer shift,and c quadrupole splitting (Q.S.)
Fig.6 a Hysteresis loop of SmFe10-xNbxNδ(x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3) powders and b XRD patterns of melt-spun,annealed and nitrided of SmFe10-xNbx (x=0.1)
Fig.7 TEM images of as-annealed SmFe10-xNbx ribbons:a x=0 and b x=0.1
4 Conclusion
In this study,Rietveld analysis shows that the Nb atoms occupy 2e site in the alloys and the addition of Nb can impede the precipitation of Sm2Fe17 andα-Fe phases,which can stabilize the TbCu7 structure.Mossbauer analysis shows that the mean hyperfine fields of 2e site are29.58 T at 300 K under Nb doping at x=0.1 and the corresponding Curie temperature is 552 K.The optimal properties of Br=0.9 T,Hcj=741.5 kA·m-1,(BH)max=124.2 kJ·m-3 are obtained at x=0.10 in the nitrides.
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