91
High-Performance
Plasma Sprayed Nd2Fe14B Permanent Magnet Materials
Amount:
$490,642
Small Bussiness
Research
Institute
APS
Materials, Inc.,
University of Dayton Research Institute
4011
Riverside Drive,
Dayton, OH
45405-2364
Mr. Michael C. Wilson, Principal
Investigator
Mr. Joseph Cheng, Business Official,
937-278-6547
The poor fracture
toughness of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets makes it very difficult to produce
magnetic parts with complicated shapes, tiny thicknesses, and small dimensions.
Chipping, cracking, and fracture often happen during grinding, assembly,
and operation of the Nd-Fe-B magnetic parts.
Bonded Nd-Fe-B magnets could overcome these problems, but their magnetic
performance is only one-eighth to one-tenth that of anisotropic sintered
magnets. This project will utilize a
plasma spray process to synthesize high performance and high fracture toughness
Nd-Fe-B magnets with near net shape, thin thickness, small dimension, and
complicated geometry. It also would
be a better process for fabricating new bulk anisotropic nanocrystalline and
nanocomposite Nd-Fe-B magnets. Phase
I demonstrated the feasibility of using a plasma spray to synthesize Nd-Fe-B
magnets. Very high coercivity was
readily obtained in the as-deposited condition or after anneal, and strong
magnetic anisotropy was observed. Ring
magnets with soft iron used for magnetic flux return path were successfully
fabricated. The production of
amorphous Nd-Fe-B alloys was easier with plasma spray than other processes, such
as melt spinning or mechanical alloying. Phase
II will further improve the microstructure and magnetic performance of plasma
sprayed Nd-Fe-B magnets by optimizing compositions as well as plasma spray and
annealing conditions. High-performance
anisotropic Nd-Fe-B magnets will be fabricated by creating a crystal texture
during plasma spay. Bulk anisotropic
nanocrystalline and nanocomposite Nd-Fe-B magnets with a breakthrough maximum
energy product also will be synthesized.
Commercial
Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
The plasma spray synthesis process should significantly reduce production
cost and shaping efforts; stimulate new design ideas and new applications;
improve device performance; and reduce device weight, volume, and energy
consumption. Applications include
generators, actuators, speakers, printers, and motors, including those widely
used in computer hard and floppy disk drives, Zip, CD, and DVD disk drives.