In this study, a convergent heat treatment was performed in certain temperature regions in order to control the microstructures of Nd-rich phases and to reduce thermal stress on grain boundaries which could be caused during expansion and shrinkage of Nd-rich and phases. The difference of thermal expansion coefficient between and Nd-rich phases is the mechanism for convergent heat treatment. The Nd-rich phases which were located in junctions could penetrate into the grain boundaries between phases due to the difference of thermal expansion coefficient. Through the convergent heat treatment, the microcracks that were observed in cyclic heat treatment were not observed and coercivity was increased to 34.05 kOe at 8 cycles.

Sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets have been widely used due to their excellent magnetic properties, especially for driving motors of hybrid and electric vehicles. The microstructure of Nd-Fe-B magnets strongly affects their magnetic properties, in particular the coercivity. Therefore, a post-sintering process like heat-treatment is required for improving the magnetic properties of Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets. In this study, cyclic heat treatment was performed at temperatures between and up to 16 cycles in order to control microstructures such as size and shape of the Nd-rich phase without grain growth of the phase. The 2 cycles specimen at this temperature range showed more homogeneous microstructure which leads to higher coercivity of 35 kOe than as-sintered one.