Microstructure of high-energy product Fe-Nd-B magnequench ribbons
Melt-spun Fe-Nd-B MAGNEQUENCH® ribbons have been produced by Croat et al. with energy products in excess of 10 MG.Oe using a relatively narrow window of composition and quenching speed. The hard magnetic phase has subsequently been identified as the Nd2Fe14B compound which has a very high anisotropy field. The microstructure of the MAGNEQUENCH® ribbon which has a maximum energy product of 14.1 MG•0e was found to consist of equiaxed Nd2Fe14B grains surrounded by a very thin intergranular film. This paper presents the results of some of our earlv work on the microstructural characterization of high energy product MAGNEQUENCH® ribbons having nominal compositions of Nd13Fe82.6B4.4 and Nd15Fe79.9B5.1. The purpose of this investigation was to characterize the microstructures of various MAGNEQUENCH® ribbons for correlation with their magnetic properties.