Grain boundary oxide layers in NdFeB-based permanent magnets

The microstructure of grain boundaries (GBs) in the commercial NdFeB-based alloy for permanent magnets has been studied. It is generally accepted that the unique hard magnetic properties of such alloys are controlled by the thin layers of a Nd-rich phase in Nd2Fe14B/Nd2Fe14B GBs. These GB layers ensure the magnetic isolation of Nd2Fe14B grains from each other. It is usually supposed that such GB layers contain metallic Nd or Nd-rich intermetallic compounds. However, the commercial NdFeB-based permanent magnets frequently contain a tangible amount of neodymium oxide Nd2O3 at the triple junctions between Nd2Fe14B grains. The goal of this work was to check whether the Nd2Fe14B/Nd2Fe14B GBs could also contain the thin layers of Nd2O3 oxide phase. Indeed, the screening with EELS-based elemental analysis permitted to observe that some of these Nd-rich layers in Nd2Fe14B/Nd2Fe14B GBs contain not only neodymium, but also oxygen. More detailed analysis of such GBs with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR TEM) showed these GB layers are crystalline and have the lattice of neodymium oxide Nd2O3. In turn, the Lorentz micro-magnetic contrast in TEM permitted to observe that the Nd-oxide GB layers prevent the migration of domain walls from one Nd2Fe14B grain to another during remagnetization. This finding proves that the GB oxide layers, similar to those of metallic Nd or Nd-rich intermetallic compounds, can ensure the magnetic isolation between Nd2Fe14B grains needed for high coercivity. Therefore, the GB oxide layers can be used for further development of NdFeB-based permanent magnets.