A Novel Technique for the Enhancement of Coercivity in High Energy Permanent Magnets

51 A Novel Technique for the Enhancement of Coercivity in High Energy Permanent Magnets--Advanced Materials Corporation, 700 Technology Drive, P.O. Box 2950, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3124; (412) 268-5649 Dr. S.G. Sankar, Principal Investigator Dr. S.G. Sankar, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER82314 Amount: $73,130 Improvements in the properties of permanent magnets are important to enable the design and construction of energy-efficient devices such as motors, actuators, magnetic bearings and magnetic separators. Novel methods for the fabrication of magnets with improved properties will be investigated in this project. Neodymium-iron-boron magnets with superior magnet properties have been recently realized, but it is anticipated that significant improvements can be obtained through the control of chemistry and the amount of intergranular phases, including a judicious substitution of heavy rare-earth atoms into the intergranular phases. These issues will be carefully investigated during Phase I by utilizing a new processing technique devised recently in our laboratory. Methods to scale up this process to produce magnets on an economic basis will be investigated in Phase II. An electromechanical device such as an actuator will be designed and constructed during Phase II to determine the advantages of these magnets. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Improvements in permanent magnets would enhance the torque, force, power and energy efficiency of electromechanical devices. Commercial applications of these magnets include disk drive actuators in personal computers, fractional horsepower motors for electronic instruments and integral horsepower motors for electric vehicles and industrial drives.