Phase constitution and microstructure of Ce—Fe—B strip-casting alloy

The strip-casting technique plays an important role in fabricating high coercivity sintered magnet. In this paper, we investigate the phase constitution and the microstructure of rapidly solidified Ce—Fe—B alloy fabricated by strip-casting. We find that the Ce₂Fe₁₄B phase coexists with Fe, Fe₂B, and CeFe₂ phases in the Ce—Fe—B strips. The eutectic structure consisting of Fe and Fe₂B is encased in Ce₂Fe₁₄B grains, which is blocked by the CeFe₂ grains at triple junctions, indicating that the microstructure of Ce—Fe—B strip is characteristic of a peritectic solidification. Thermal analysis indicates that the large supercooling of Ce₂Fe₁₄B results in the residual Fe and Fe₂B. The microstructural optimization in Ce—Fe—B strips without Fe and Fe₂B could be achieved by a heat treatment of 1000 °C. (condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties)