Studies on the Production of NdFeB Alloy by Calciothermic Reduction of Neodymium Oxide

Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB) is a class of permanent magnets having the highest energy product (BHmax). It has been used in various electronic devices of small size and light weight. This research is to study the preparation of Neodymium-Iron-Boron alloy by calciothermic reduction of neodymium oxide mixed with iron and iron-boron. The reduction process essentially involves the compaction of the charge mixture with calcium metal and then heating at 900-1200οC in argon atmosphere. The results show that charge blend compaction, temperature and time of reaction are important parameters of the process. It is found that at proper conditions, magnetic phase structure of Neodymium-Iron-Boron alloy can be prepared satisfactory although the alloy produced from the reduction contains higher impurities of oxygen and calcium than the alloy produced from the conventional method using Nd metal