In the present study, we systematically investigated the effect of Mn addition on nitrogenation behavior and magnetic properties of Sm-Fe powders produced by reduction-diffusion process. Alloy powders with only single phase were successfully produced by the reduction-diffusion process. The coercivity of powder rapidly increased during nitrogenation and reached the maximum of 637 Oe after 16 hours. After further nitrogenation, it decreased. In contrast, the coercivity of powder gradually increased during nitrogenation for 24 hours. The coercivity of powder was higher than that of powder at the same condition of nitrogenation. It was considered that the Mn addition facilitates the nitrogenation of powder and enhances the coercivity.

To produce alloy powders with only SmFe single phase by reduction-diffusion (R-D) method, the effect of excess samarium oxide on the preparation of Sm-Fe alloy powder during R-D heat treatment was studied. The quantity of samarium oxide was varied from 5% to 50% whereas iron and calcium were taken 0% and 200% in excess of chemical equivalent, respectively. The pellet type mixture of samarium, iron powders and calcium granulars was subjected to heat treatment at 1100 for 5 hours. The R-D treated pellet was moved into deionized water and agitated to separate Sm-Fe alloy powders. After washing them in deionized water several times, the powders were washed with acetic acid to remove the undesired reaction products such as CaO. By these washing and acid cleaning treatment, only 0.03 wt% calcium remained in Sm-Fe alloy powders. It was also confirmed that the content of unreacted -Fe in SmFe matrix gradually decreased as the percentage of samarium oxide is increased. However, there was no significant change above 40% excess samarium oxide.