Effect of Ce addition on the glass-forming ability and hard-magnetic properties of the Nd-Fe-Al bulk metallic glasses

Abstract The influence of Ce addition on the glass-forming ability (GFA) and hard-magnetic properties of the Nd 60 − x Ce x Fe 30 Al 10 ( x = 0 − 35) alloy prepared by suction casting have been investigated. The glass-forming ability of the as-cast rods increased with the addition of Ce content from x = 0 to x = 30, and then decreased for x = 35. The as-cast rods with a composition of x = 0 and x = 30 contained two amorphous magnetic phases including Fe-rich regions and Nd-rich regions characterized by the Curie temperature T c1 and T c2 . The Ce atoms may be unevenly distributed in the two magnetic phases, which prefer to substitute Nd in the low T c phase. All the alloys exhibit hard magnetic behavior, while the room-temperature coercivity and remanence gradually decrease with the Ce addition. The saturation magnetization ( M s ), remanence ( M r ) and coercivity ( i H c ) of the alloy for x = 30 with the best glass-forming ability are 16.30 Am 2 /kg, 10.22 Am 2 /kg and 162.31 kA/m, respectively.