Substitution of Ce for Nd in preparing R2Fe14B nanocrystalline magnets

The substitution for Nd by abundant element Ce is a practical way for the comprehensive utilization of rare earth resources in permanent magnets. In this letter, we investigate the magnetic properties and magnetization reversal of Nd12−xCexFe82B6 ribbons by varying x from 0 to 12. These ribbons mainly consist of R2Fe14B phase in isotropic nanostructure. Coercivity, Curie temperature and maximum energy product all decrease with the increase of Ce atomic percent. The decrease of coercivity is mainly attributed to the decrease of anisotropy due to the substitution for Nd by Ce. In Ce12Fe82B6 and Nd1Ce11Fe82B6 ribbons, the magnetization reversal behaviors are more non-uniform and the squareness of demagnetization curve is poor in second quadrant. However, as long as the Ce concentration does not exceed 10 at.%, the squareness of demagnetization curve remains good and the intergranular exchange coupling is strong. It is expected that these investigations could be beneficial to the composition designing in the manufacturing of R2Fe14B magnets.