Rare earth magnets are the strongest type of permanent magnets and are integral to the high tech industry, particularly in clean energies, such as electric vehicle motors and wind turbine generators. However, the cost of rare earth materials and the imbalance in supply and demand still remain big problems to solve for permanent magnet related industries. Thus, a magnet with abundant elements and moderate magnetic performance is required to replace rare-earth magnets. Recently, a”-Fe16N2 has attracted considerable attention as a promising candidate for next-generation non-rare-earth permanent magnets due to its gigantic magnetization (3.23 T). Also, metastable a”-Fe16N2 exhibits high tetragonality (c/a = 1.1) by interstitial introduction of N atoms, leading to a high magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant (K1 = 1.0MJ/m3). In addition, Fe has a large amount of reserves on the Earth compared to other magnetic materials, leading to low cost of raw materials and manufacturing for industrial production. In this paper, we review the synthetic methods of metastable a”-Fe16N2 with film, powder and bulk form and discuss the approaches to enhance magnetocrystalline anisotropy of a”-Fe16N2. Future research prospects are also offered with patent trends observed thus far.

The influence of Cu and Ni on the ductile-brittle transition behavior of metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloys with N contents below 0.5 wt.% was investigated in terms of austenite stability and microstructure. All the metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloys exhibited a ductile-brittle transition behavior by unusual low-temperature brittle fracture, irrespective of Cu and/or Ni addition, and deformation-induced martensitic transformation occasionally occurred during Charpy impact testing at lower temperatures due to reduced austenite stability resulting from insufficient N content. The formation of deformation-induced martensite substantially increased the ductile-brittle transition temperature(DBTT) by deteriorating low-temperature toughness because the martensite was more brittle than the parent austenite phase beyond the energy absorbed during transformation, and its volume fraction was too small. On the other hand, the Cu addition to the metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloy increased DBTT because the presence of δ-ferrite had a negative effect on low-temperature toughness. However, the combined addition of Cu and Ni to the metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloy decreased DBTT, compared to the sole addtion of Ni or Cu. This could be explained by the fact that the combined addition of Cu and Ni largely enhanced austenite stability, and suppressed the formation of deformation-induced martensite and δ-ferrite in conjunction with the beneficial effect of Cu which may increase stacking fault energy, so that it allows cross-slip to occur and thus reduces the planarity of the deformation mechanism.

Nanostructured high strength metastable Al-, Mg- and Ti-based alloys containing different amorphous, quasicrystalline and nanocrystalline phases are synthesized by non-equilibrium processing techniques. Such alloys can be prepared by quenching from the melt or by powder metallurgy techniques. This paper focuses on one hand on mechanically alloyed and ball milled powders containing different volume fractions of amorphous or nano-(quasi)crystalline phases, consolidated bulk specimens and, on the other hand. on cast specimens containing different constituent phases with different length-scale. As one example. - based metallic glass matrix composites are produced by mechanical alloying of elemental powder mixtures containing up to 30 vol.% particles. The comparison with the particle-free metallic glass reveals that the nanosized second phase oxide particles do not significantly affect the glass-forming ability upon mechanical alloying despite some limited particle dissolution. A supercooled liquid region with an extension of about 50 K can be maintained in the presence of the oxides. The distinct viscosity decrease in the supercooled liquid regime allows to consolidate the powders into bulk samples by uniaxial hot pressing. The additions increase the mechanical strength of the composites compared to the metallic glass. The second example deals with Al-Mn-Ce and Al-Cu-Fe composites with quasicrystalline particles as reinforcements, which are prepared by quenching from the melt and by powder metallurgy. (x =5,6,7) melt-spun ribbons containing a major quasicrystalline phase coexisting with an Al-matrix on a nanometer scale are pulverized by ball milling. The powders are consolidated by hot extrusion. Grain growth during consolidation causes the formation of a micrometer-scale microstructure. Mechanical alloying of leads to single-phase quasicrystalline powders. which are blended with different volume fractions of pure Al-powder and hot extruded forming (x = 40,50,60,80) micrometer-scale composites. Compression test data reveal a high yield strength of 700 MPa and a ductility of 5% for than the Al-Mn-Ce bulk samples. The strength level of the Al-Cu-Fe alloys is 550 MPa significantly lower. By the addition of different amounts of aluminum, the mechanical properties can be tuned to a wide range. Finally, a bulk metallic glass-forming Ti-Cu-Ni-Sn alloy with in situ formed composite microstructure prepared by both centrifugal and injection casting presents more than 6% plastic strain under compressive stress at room temperature. The in situ formed composite contains dendritic hcp Ti solid solution precipitates and a few -(Cu, Sn) grains dispersed in a glassy matrix. The composite micro- structure can avoid the development of the highly localized shear bands typical for the room temperature defor-mation of monolithic glasses. Instead, widely developed shear bands with evident protuberance are observed. resulting in significant yielding and homogeneous plastic deformation over the entire sample.

준안정 Fe-Cr-Ni 3원 오스테나이트 STS강을 90% 냉간압연한 후 여러온도에서 어니링하여 얻은 가공유기 마르텐사이트(α')와 역변태 오스테나이트(γ)와의2상 혼합조직가에 있어서 기게적 성질과 γ안정도와의 관계를 조사하였다. 모든 강들은 90% 냉간압연에 의하여 거의 α'단상조직이 되었고, 변태된 α'는 773~873K의 온도범위에서 급격하게 γ로 역변태하였다. Cr과 Ni함량이 많을수록, 그리고 결정립 미세화에 의해서γ는 더욱 안정화하여 Ms 점의 저하를 초래하였다. Cr량을 적게하여γ를 불안정하게 함으로써 많은 α'를 품는 고강도, 고연성의 초미세립강이 얻어졌다.

2mol%의 이트리아로 안정화된 정방정상 지르코니아 분말을 800˚C부터 1500˚C 까지 온도별로 열처리하여 분말내 입자크기 및 입자간에 존재하는 구속력을 변화시킨 다음, 정방정상의 전이도 및 안정화효과가 무열상전이, 응력유기상전이, 등온상전이 에 미치는 영향을 고찰하였다. 그 결과 Y-TZP 분말내 정 방정상의 전이도는 고용체의 양이 일정할 경우 열처리온도의 변화에 따른 입자크기와 입자간에 존재하는 구속력의 크기에 의존하였는데 열처리온도가 증가함에 따라 전이도가 점차 증가하여 1300˚C로 열처리한 분말에서 최대값을 보였다. 그러나 1300˚C 이상으로 열처리한 분말에서는 열처리온도가 증가함에 따라 구속효과의 증가에 따라 전이도가 정차로 감소하였다. 전이도가 큰 분말에서는 정방정상이 무열상전이, 응력유기상전이, 등온상전이를 쉽게 일으켜 단사정상으로 전이하였다.