Erratum to: The use of thermal hydrogen decrepitation to recycle Nd-Fe-B magnets from electronic waste

This erratum concerns a correction in the affiliation of the original article [1] on page 415 and 424. <br><br><font color="red"><b> Link to the corrected article <u><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/JMMB200207032P">10.2298/JMMB200207032P</a></b></u>

Blending Powder Process for Recycling Sintered Nd-Fe-B Magnets

The wide application of Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets, in addition to rare-earth metal resource constraints, creates the necessity of the development of efficient technologies for recycling sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets. In the present study, a magnet-to-magnet recycling process is considered. As starting materials, magnets of different grades were used, which were processed by hydrogen decrepitation and blending the powder with NdHx. Composition inhomogeneity in the Nd2Fe14B-based magnetic phase grains in the recycled magnets and the existence of a core-shell structure consisting of a Nd-rich (Dy-depleted) core and Nd-depleted (Dy-enriched) shell are demonstrated. The formation of this structure results from the grain boundary diffusion process of Dy that occurs during the sintering of magnets prepared from a mixture of Dy-free (N42) and Dy-containing magnets. The increase in the coercive force of the N42 magnet was shown to be 52%. The simultaneous retention of the remanence, and even its increase, were observed and explained by the improved isolation of the main magnetic phase grains as well as their alignment.

Magnetic Properties of SmCo5 + 10 wt% Fe Exchange-Coupled Nanocomposites Produced from Recycled SmCo5

Nanostructured alloy powders of SmCo5 + 10 wt% Fe obtained using recycled material were studied for the first time. The SmCo5 precursor was obtained from commercial magnets recycled by hydrogen decrepitation. The results were compared with identically processed samples obtained using virgin SmCo5 raw material. The samples were synthesized by dry high-energy ball-milling and subsequent heat treatment. Robust soft/hard exchange coupling was observed—with large coercivity, which is essential for commercial permanent magnets. The obtained energy products for the recycled material fall between 80% and 95% of those obtained when using virgin SmCo5, depending on milling and annealing times. These results further offer viability of recycling and sustainability in production. These powders and processes are therefore candidates for the next generation of specialized and nanostructured exchange-coupled bulk industrial magnets.

The use of thermal hydrogen decrepitation to recycle Nd-Fe-B magnets from electronic waste

Rare earth magnets based upon neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) are employed in many high tech applications, including hard disk drives (HDDs). The key elements in manufacturing NdFeB magnets are rare earth elements (REEs) such as neodymium. This element has been subject to significant supply shortfalls in the recent past. Recycling of NdFeB magnets contained within waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) could provide a secure and alternative supply of these materials. Various recycling approaches for the recovery of sintered NdFeB magnets have been widely explored. Hydrogen decrepitation (HD) can be used as a direct reuse approach and effective method of recycling process to turn solid sintered magnets into a demagnetised powder for further processing. In this work, sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets were processed without prior removal of the metallic protective layer using the thermal HD process as an alternative recycling method. The gas sorption analyzer have been used to determine the quantity of the hydrogen absorbed by a samples of magnets, under controlled pressure (1, 2, 3 and 4 bar) and temperature (room, 100, 300 and 400?C) conditions, using Sieverts? volumetric method. The composition and morphology of the starting and the extracted/disintegrated materials were examined by ICP, XRD and SEM-EDS analysis.

Removal of metallic coatings from rare-earth permanent magnets by solutions of bromine in organic solvents

Rare-earth permanent magnets were treated with Br2 in organic solvents to remove the Ni–Cu–Ni coating prior to direct magnet recycling by hydrogen decrepitation.

Influence of Alloying Elements Zr, Nb and Mo on the Microstructure and Magnetic Properties of Sintered Pr-Fe-Co-B Based Permanent Magnets

The addition of alloying elements on rare-earth permanent magnets is one of the methods used to improve the magnetic properties. This present work evaluates the influence of alloying elements such as Zr, Nb and Mo on the microstructure and magnetic properties of sintered Pr-FeCo-B based permanent magnets. The permanent magnets were produced by the conventional powder metallurgy route using powder obtained by hydrogen-decrepitation (HD) method from as cast alloys. In order to produce the magnet Pr16Fe66,9Co10,7B5,7Cu0,7 without alloying elements the mixture of alloys method was employed, mixing two compositions: Pr20Fe73B5Cu2 (33% w.t) and Pr14Fe64Co16B6 (67% w.t). With the purpose of evaluating the influence of the alloying elements, the Pr14Fe64Co16B6X0,1 (where X= Zr, Nb or Mo) (67% w.t) alloy was employed. The characterization of the alloys and the magnets was carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and the magnetic properties were measured using a permeameter. The magnet without any additions presented the highest intrinsic coercivity (μ0iHc = 748 KA.m-1) while the magnet with Nb addition presented higher remanence (Br = 1,04 T). The magnet with Zr addition presented the highest maximum energy product (BHmáx = 144 KJ.m-3), and the magnet with Mo addition showed the highest squareness factor (SF = 0,73).

Effect of Hydrogen Decrepitation Pressure on the Particle Size of Rare Earth Based Alloys for Ni-Mh Battery Production

This paper presents the results obtained from the hydrogenation and decrepitation of three LaNi-based alloys, La0.7Mg0.3Al0.3Mn0.4Co0.5Ni3.8, La0.7Mg0.3Al0.3Mn0.4Cu0.5Ni3.8and La0.7Mg0.3Al0.3Mn0.4Sn0.5Ni3.8, in the as-cast condition. The procedure for decrepitating the alloys to be used in the negative electrode of the batteries was carried out using a combination of various hydrogen pressures (2-9 bar) at room temperature. At 2 bar of H2it was revealed that Co, Cu and Sn have influence on the microstructures of the hydrogenated alloys and on the efficiency of hydrogen decrepitation. None of these alloys required thermal heating to activate and start the hydrogen absorption process. The decrepitated materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical measurements were performed using the tested negative electrode between two Ni (OH)2electrodes as a battery cell.