Superferrimagnetism in hard Nd-Fe-B thick films, an original concept for coercivity enhancement

In a number of applications (automotive, wind generators), RFeB magnets are parts of systems which operate at temperatures in the range of 160 °C–180 °C. At these high temperatures, coercivity is preserved by substituting Dy atoms for a part of the Nd ones. The enhanced coercivity obtained may be associated to the high magnetocrystalline anisotropy of Dy atoms, which diffuse into the R2Fe14B phase. The introduction of Dy, however, induces a reduction in the remanent magnetization. Furthermore, Dy is an expensive and strategic material. In this study, we explore a radically different approach to coercivity. A magnetic layer is deposited at the surface of the hard grains, this layer being exchange coupled to the main hard phase in a way that its magnetization is antiparallel to it. Under an applied field that tends to reverse the main phase magnetization, the surface layer, the magnetization of which is along the field, works against reversal. This is the concept of superferrimagnetism. In order to test its impact on the coercivity of real systems, magnetically hard thick films of NdFeB have been sandwiched between thin layers of Gd/Fe, which were transformed to GdFe2 upon annealing. Coercivity enhancement was achieved compared to a reference NdFeB single layer