We investigate the microstructural and magnetic property changes of DyH2, Cu + DyH2, and Al + DyH2 diffusion-treated NdFeB sintered magnets with the post annealing (PA) temperature. The coercivity of all the diffusiontreated magnets increases with increasing heat treatment temperature except at 910oC, where it decreases slightly. Moreover, at 880oC, the coercivity increases by 3.8 kOe in Cu and 4.7 kOe in Al-mixed DyH2-coated magnets, whereas this increase is relatively low (3.0 kOe) in the magnet coated with only DyH2. Both Cu and Al have an almost similar effect on the coercivity improvement, particularly over the heat treatment temperature range of 790-880oC. The diffusivity and diffusion depth of Dy increases in those magnets that are treated with Cu or Al-mixed DyH2, mainly because of the comparatively easy diffusion path provided by Cu and Al owing to their solubility in the Nd-rich grain boundary phase. The formation of a highly anisotropic (Nd, Dy)2Fe14B phase layer, which acts as the shell in the core-shell-type structure so as to prevent the reverse domain movement, is the cause of enhanced coercivity of diffusion-treated Nd-Fe-B magnets.

High-coercive (Nd,Dy)-Fe-B magnets were fabricated via dysprosium coating on Nd-Fe-B powder. The sputtering coating process of Nd–Fe–B powder yielded samples with densities greater than 98%. (Nd,Dy)2Fe14B phases may have effectively penetrated into the boundaries between neighboring Nd2Fe14B grains during the sputtering coating process, thereby forming a (Nd,Dy)2Fe14B phase at the grain boundary. The maximum thickness of the Dy shell was approximately 70 nm. The maximum coercivity of the Dy sputter coated samples(sintered samples) increased from 1162.42 to 2020.70 kA/m. The microstructures of the (Nd,Dy)2Fe14B phases were effectively controlled, resulting in mproved magnetic properties. The increase in coercivity of the Nd-Fe-B sintered magnet is discussed from a micro- structural point of view.

Magnetic properties and the microstructures of magnets prepared by spark plasma sintering were investigated in order to enhance magnetic properties by grain size control. Nd-Fe-B magnets were fabricated by the spark plasma sintering under 30 MPa at various temperatures. The grain size was effectively controlled by the spark plasma sintering and it was possible to make Nd-Fe-B magnets with grain size of 5.9 .

In order to improve the remanence of (Nd, Dy)-Fe-B sintered magnets, we investigated the influence of compaction conditions such as packing density, applied field and green density on the magnetic properties. While the remanence decreased with increasing the packing density and green density, it increased with the increase of the applied field. In addition, XRD analysis revealed that the remanence was enhanced as the degree of powder alignment was improved. The green density was more influential on the remanence than the packing density and applied field.

In order to increase the coercivity of (Nd, Dy)-Fe-B sintered magnets without much reduction of remanence, small amount of Dy compounds such as and was mixed with (Nd, Dy)-Fe-B powder. After mixing, the coercivity of (Nd, Dy)-Fe-B sintered magnets apparently increased with the increase of Dy compound in the mixture. Addition of was more effective than for the improvement of coercivity. Reduction of the remanence by the addition of Dy compound, however, was larger than expected mostly due to unresolved coarse Dy compound in the magnet. EPMA analysis revealed that Dy was diffused throughout the grains in the magnet mixed with whereas Dy was rather concentrated around grain boundaries in the magnet mixed with .

In an attempt to optimize the magnetic properties of (Nd, Dy)-Fe-B sintered magnets, hydrogenation and post-sintering heat treatment processes were investigated at various hydrogenation temperatures and heat treatment temperatures. The coercivity of (Nd, Dy)-Fe-B sintered magnets hydrogenated at increased to about 1.2 kOe without any detrimental effect on the remanence. Moreover, the coercivity of the magnets was enhanced further by a consecutive and step heat treatment. These results eventually leaded to the reduction of the Dy content in a high coercive (> 30 kOe) (Nd, Dy)-Fe-B sintered magnets, as much as 10%.