Spark plasma sintering technique had been applied to prepare bulk isotropic and anisotropic nanostructured Nd–Fe–B permanent magnets via hot pressing and subsequent hot deformation process. Influences of processing conditions and deformation height reduction on the structure and magnetic properties of the magnets were investigated. For the hot deformed magnet with 80% height reduction, XRD patterns of the anisotropic magnets show dominant (00l) diffraction peaks indicating evident c-axis crystallographic alignment in the magnet. Under the optimal processing conditions, the anisotropic magnet with 80% height reduction exhibits excellent magnetic properties as remanence (Br) of 1.492 T, coercive force (Hci) of 1004 kA/m, and the maximum energy product [(BH)max] of 400 kJ/m3, which are among the highest reported magnetic properties of nanostructured Nd–Fe–B permanent magnets.

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The crystal structure and magnetic properties were studied for the bulk nanostructural permanent magnet SmCo6.6Nb0.4 prepared by spark plasma sintering method. The magnet crystallizes in a single phase with a hexagonal TbCu7-type crystal structure after the sintering process. Rietveld fitting results show that the alloying element of Nb prefers to occupy the 3g site. Microstructure observation indicates that the average crystal grain size is about 30nm. The coercivity decreases almost linearly from 2.8to0.5T with increasing temperature from 300to773K. A remanence enhancement resulting from intergrain exchange coupling among the fine grains was also observed.

Chemical coating, hot compaction, and hot deformation techniques have been applied to prepare bulk isotropic and anisotropic Nd2Fe14B∕α-Fe nanocomposite magnets. The effect of α-Fe content on the structure and magnetic properties of the magnets were studied. For the isotropic magnets, the remanence (Br) increases as the α-Fe content increases, while the coercive force (Hci) drops simultaneously. For the anisotropic magnets, the Br rises first, peaking at 2vol% of α-Fe content, then falls as the α-Fe content increases, and Hci drops significantly for all the α-Fe containing anisotropic magnets. Crystal structure analysis shows that only the magnets with no more than 2vol% α-Fe exhibit strong c-axis crystal texture of Nd2Fe14B phase after deformation. Microstructure observation also shows that there are many Nd2Fe14B equiaxial grains even after hot deformation in the magnets with α-Fe more than 2vol%.

Chemical coating, hot compaction, and hot deformation techniques have been applied to prepare bulk anisotropic SmCo5/α-Fe nanocomposite magnets. The effects of α-Fe content on the structure and magnetic properties of the magnets were studied. With the increase of the α-Fe content, both the saturation magnetization (Ms) and remanence (Mr) of the magnets rise first, peak at 10 vol. % α-Fe content and then fall while the coercivity (Hci) of the magnets drops simultaneously. Crystal structure analysis shows that the magnets exhibit a strong c-axis crystal texture of the SmCo5 phase, which, however, weakens gradually as the α-Fe content increases. Microstructure observation also shows that there are many SmCo5 equiaxial grains even after hot deformation in the magnets with 15 vol. % α-Fe.