Nd–Pr–Fe–B sintered magnets are
considered
important for emerging technologies. They are fundamental to the energy
matrix transition, such as electric and hybrid vehicles and wind turbines.
The production of these magnets generates tons of residues in the
machining process step. Since China dominates the rare-earth (RE)
market, leading to supply shortages, processing wastes are a promising
alternative for recycling or reusing RE materials. Due to the amount
generated and the chemical composition, containing up to 30 wt % of
critical rare-earth elements, the studies of RE magnets are expanding
in the current circular economy scenario. In this work, Nd–Pr–Fe–B
machining wastes from two different machining processes (diamond cutting
and grinding) were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer
spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer with first-order-reversal-curves,
scanning electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence, elemental analysis,
and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results showed that the
degradation of the phases in both wastes is relatively strong. The
phases of the magnets are decomposed into oxides, hydroxides, and
hydrated oxides such as Nd(OH)3, ferrihydrite, and metallic
iron. In addition, the machining process provokes a change in the
iron vicinity of the Nd2Fe14B phase. The presence
of impurities and the wide dispersion of particle sizes resulted in
low magnetic properties and affected the magnetization behavior of
the machining waste. Using different characterization techniques,
it was found that the oxides formed during the machining processes
are located on the surfaces of the particles, while the center consists
of a nondegraded Nd2Fe14B phase. It was also
found that the Nd–Pr–Fe–B wastes have similarities,
indicating that it is possible to mix wastes from different machining
processes before recycling. The complete characterization of the Nd–Pr–Fe–B
machining residues indicated that different reuse and recycling strategies
can be evaluated to improve the efficiency of reusing these machining
wastes as secondary sources.