Uneven Evolution of Microstructure, Magnetic Properties and Coercivity Mechanism of Mo-Substituted Nd–Ce–Fe–B Alloys

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of Mo addition on the phase morphologies, microstructures and magnetic properties of the designated alloys. It is found out that the coercivity H cj increases unevenly from 12.2 kOe for (Nd 0.8 Ce 0.2 ) 13 Fe 82 B 5 to the maximum value of 13.3 kOe for (Nd 0.8 Ce 0.2 ) 13 Fe 80 B 5 Mo 2 . The transmission electron microscopy images demonstrate that the grain size decreases with the addition of Mo, which indicates that Mo has grain refinement effect. The correlative analysis gives rise to the conclusion that the coercivity mechanism of the investigated alloys is dominated by pinning type. All in all, the enhancement of the magnetic properties is mainly attributed to the synergistic impact of grain refinement, pinning effects and the microstructural homogenization. The research may shed light on the potential development and application of rare earth-based counterpart magnets.