Microstructure evolution of hot-deformed SmCo-based nanocomposites induced by thermo-mechanical processing

Nanocomposite permanent magnets have ultra-high theoretical magnetic energy products,due to cou-pling of the soft/hard magnetic phases,inciting strict microstructural requirements.In this study,the microstructure evolution,including the phase transition,morphological changes,and texture formation,of hot-deformed SmCo-based nanocomposites under thermal-stress-strain coupling was characterized to determine a possible strategy for achieving high performance.The SmCo_(5)/α-Fe nanocomposites precursor contained fine and dispersed Sm(Fe,Co)_(5)and Fe-Co grains and exhibited a two-stage phase transforma-tion accompanied by grain growth.In the early stage of deformation at relatively low temperature,the adjacent Sm(Co,Fe)5 and Fe-Co phase formed the Sm_(2)(Co,Fe)_(17)-H phase,which was stable only with small grain sizes.In the high-temperature deformation stage,the Sm_(2)(Co,Fe)_(17)-H phase transformed into the Sm_(2)(Co,Fe)_(17)-R phase with large grain sizes.In addition,the strong c-axis texture formed in the Sm(Co,Fe)_(5)phase but not in the Sm_(2)(Co,Fe)_(17)-R phase.Subsequently,the phase transition process and texture formation mechanism were systematically analyzed by transmission electron microscopy.The ini-tiation of a slip system and/or preferential grain growth explained the formation of texture under the action of uniform stress and strain and assisted by dispersed Sm-rich nanograins.The Sm_(2)(Co,Fe)_(17)-R grains with poor orientations and large grain sizes did not achieve magnetic hardening,which also dam-age the magnetic properties.According to the results of this work,we also presented a new strategy to prepare high-performance SmCo-based nanocomposites magnets.