Synthesis of nanocrystalline Ce13Fe81B6 alloy through mechanically driven disproportionation-recombination process.

Highlights • Nanocrystalline Ce 13 Fe 81 B 6 alloy powder is synthesized through a new process. • Microstructure transformation of the alloy powder during the process is studied. • The effects of microstucture on the magnetic properties of materials are researched. Abstract Nanocrystalline Ce 13 Fe 81 B 6 alloy powder was synthesized by mechanically driven disproportionation-recombination processing. The microstructure transformation of the alloy during different processing stages was characterized by XRD and TEM. The magnetic properties of the nanocrystalline powder were measured by VSM. The results showed that the Ce 2 Fe 14 B matrix phase of the Ce 13 Fe 81 B 6 alloy was disproportionated into the nanostructured CeH 2.51 , α-Fe, and Fe 2 B phases by ball milling in hydrogen for 20 h, and that these nanostructured phases could be desorbed and recombined to nanocrystalline Ce 2 Fe 14 B phase again by subsequent vacuum annealing, with the remanence, coercivity, and maximum energy product of the as-synthesized alloy powders achieving 8.1 kGs, 6.02 kOe, and 8.51 MGOe, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]