A high energy density is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for a commercially viable magnet alloy. It must be stable enough for the application so that the irreversible losses are minimal over the expected lifetime of the device, which can be 25 years for generators, and 10 or more years for traction drive motors. The intrinsic coercivity must be sufficient to resist demagnetization under maximum load and temperature. It must be made to be thermodynamically and physically stable (minimal flux change with temperature and resistance to corrosion, decomposition or oxidation) in the environment the device will operate. For instance, rare earth element-based alloys are prone to rapid breakdown in wet, warm, and corrosive environments if not adequately coated.24,25 Since the moments couple along specific crystallographic axes, it is necessary to grain-align the compound in order to attain the maximum energy product. But this texturing must be done to exacting tolerances. Ideally, the grains should be under the single domain limit, the size at which the energy of a domain wall in a grain exceeds the reduction in magnetostatic energy resulting from the domain wall. In practice, other factors that limit the nucleation of reverse domains and pin domain walls once the reverse domains nucleate allow the grain size to be about an order of magnitude larger. For ferrites, that is ~1 μm equivalent spherical diameter, ~3 μm for Nd-based magnets, and 4–5 μm for SmCo. Highly irregular grain boundaries are also detrimental to domain-wall pinning, thus reducing coercivity. This extreme sensitivity to processing can greatly affect manufacturing costs. For instance, isotropic Nd-based magnets are produced by rapid quenching techniques resulting in grain sizes of a few tens of nanometers. These alloys are used in bonded magnets that have an energy product of ~10 MGOe while fully dense isotropic magnets can have energy products up to 16 MGOe and are less expensive to produce than sintered alloys. Figure 4 shows a scale of approximate cost as a function of maximum energy product for a wide range of permanent magnets. Since there are various grades and chemistries for many permanent magnet alloys, the boxes are approximate ranges of performance and cost. Part of the higher cost in the sintered rare earth element-based magnets is that powder metallurgical production results in large amounts of waste: grind swarf and saw kerf, as well as breakage. An additional concern for permanent magnet-based electric machines is the low electrical resistivity of the metal alloys that enhances eddy current losses unlike most permanent magnet ferrites, which are nonmetallic and nonconductive. Therefore, to minimize cost, the size and shape of the magnets must be closely matched to the motor design. Injection molding would accomplish this, but achieving the necessary energy density needed for generators and traction motors has been a challenge even in Nd-based magnets. This is due to the dilution effect of the nonmagnetic binder, which occupies about 35% of the magnet volume in injection molded magnets and 20–25% in compression bonded magnets.
While a large maximum energy product does provide electric machine designers the greatest flexibility, there are considerations beyond (BH)max. These include the T
c (Curie temperature) and the temperature dependence of the magnetic properties (Fig. 5). In the following discussion, we will focus on those compounds that show some promising characteristics or pathways to improving the compounds’ magnetic properties that would allow for use in generators and traction motors.
Alnico
Alnico has a number of very promising characteristics: a high T
c, low thermal coefficient for coercivity and induction, and the ability to magnetize in nonplanar orientations. Significant strides in improving the energy density were made in the 1950s and 1960s based primarily on processing.26,27 The highest energy product alnico grades are 5–7 and 9. These are both grain aligned and spinodally decomposed28 as they are cooled in a magnetic field.29 The improvements in properties were based primarily on empirical studies. Computational and characterization tools to understand and predict optimal nanostructure of the spinodal domains were three decades in the future. A number of minor alloying elements, primarily Cu, Ti, and Nb, are added to the base alloy of 8–13 wt.% Al, 13–28 wt.% Ni, 0–42 wt.% Co, with the balance Fe, to promote columnar growth and enhance H
cJ. Key questions remaining to be addressed in further optimization of this class of alloys include: To what extent has the spinodal decomposition been optimized? More specifically, how does the dimension, uniformity of shape, and degree of chemical segregation affect H
cJ? For example, doubling of the H
c of alnico 5 to 7 from 750 to 1500 oersteds without sacrificing B
r would result in an increase in (BH)max from 7.5 to ~14 MGOe. Determining how to achieve this without a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms for domain pinning in these compounds would be difficult.
Ferrites
By weight, ferrites are by far the largest single class of permanent magnets produced (567,330 tons in 2010). They are made with inexpensive elements and, being oxides, have excellent chemical stability for electric machine applications. While significant improvements have been made in preceding decades in the energy density for ferrites,30 there are a number of significant intrinsic limitations for this class of compounds. First, they have a very high mass-to-magnetization ratio so that the size of a permanent magnet-based electric machine would be too large for a hybrid vehicle. For wind turbine applications, the cost of the additional structure to support the more massive nacelle is more than the incremental cost of the rare earth element permanent magnets. The low magnetization is due to the fact the ferrites are actually ferrimagnets with two different Fe lattices with unequal magnetizations that are coupled antiferromagnetically. Therefore, the net magnetization is the difference between the two lattice magnetizations rather than the sum. As a result, the magnetization is approximately a factor of 4 less than that of Nd-based permanent magnets. Unlike Nd-based permanent magnets, the low temperature performance is a problem. The two magnetic sublattices have different temperature dependences resulting in large temperature dependences of the magnetic properties. In the ferrites, this results in the net magnetization increasing much more rapidly than the anisotropy constant with decreasing temperature. The anisotropy field and, hence, the coercivity is determined by the ratio of these two with the net result that H
ci decreases with decreasing temperature, a unique property of these materials. At −40°C, the coercivity is reduced to the minimum practical value, making electric machines based on these materials marginally inoperable in higher latitudes during the coldest part of the winter. Significant improvements in B
r are difficult to achieve simply because the magnetic coupling is based on antiferromagnetic exchange between the magnetic sublattices across oxygen atoms. Doping of selective Fe sites with Co has resulted in significant enhancements of B
r and H
cJ when paired with La substitution on the Sr site, but the extent of doping is limited by phase stability. While the magnetization can be increased by lowering the magnetization of the sublattice with the lower magnetization, this inevitably decreases the exchange and lowers T
c.
Other Fe-Based Compounds Without Rare Earth Elements
The challenge to designing a high-performance permanent magnet is getting enough density of the elements with significant moments, the transition elements (TM) Mn, Cr, Fe and Ni, in a configuration where their moments can align ferromagnetically. Fe is preferred since it has the largest moment, is abundant, and is inexpensive. Unfortunately, there is an optimum TM-TM spacing for each element; closer spacing tends toward antiferromagnetic alignment while larger spacings reduce the exchange and lowers T
c and the volume magnetization. The optimum spacing is achieved using nonmagnetic elements to stabilize suitable structures. Additionally, the compound structure should form a lower symmetry compound than cubic, which would have the additional benefit of large magnetocrystalline anisotropy to provide coercivity. In fact, FePt forming the L10 structure is an ideal compound, except that cost and availability of Pt renders it impractical for any high-volume application.
TM compounds with N have shown some promise31–33 as they have a large moment and have the potential to be produced in volume at low cost. The main challenge has been that the magnetic phases of interest are either metastable compounds or have a moderately low decomposition temperatures,34–36 and these phases have yet to demonstrate significant coercivity.37 There are two metastable compounds of interest, the tetragonal α′ with about 10 at.% N and the more ordered α′′ Fe16N2.38 For instance, nitriding Sm2Fe17 provides a high-energy product compound but has yet to be fabricated into an oriented, fully dense material.31,39 Compounds with even moderate decomposition temperatures (in the range of ~400°C) have two significant drawbacks for electric machines; first, they may have unacceptable irreversible losses over time, and more importantly, in order to obtain high energy density in a magnet, the magnet must approach 100% density. Therefore, being able to synthesize fine powders with a theoretical (BH)max comparable with Nd-based alloys is not sufficient. These compounds will need to be compacted into grain-aligned, dense monolithic parts. Typical processing conditions for consolidation of powders into dense compacts results in decomposing the compound or in excessive grain growth, either of which significantly degrades magnetic performance. The challenge to producing usable permanent magnets out of this class of alloys will be to stabilize their metastable structures so that they can be consolidated into dense monolithic parts with long-term stability.40
The search for new or modified materials may be aided by modern computer codes based on density functional theory (DFT). These allow for a fairly rapid assessment of “what if” scenarios for either known or postulated compounds.41 This can be as straightforward as evaluating substitutions to known compounds and determining their thermodynamic stability or as sophisticated as performing genetic searches for new compounds.42 Critical metrics for promising compounds are the significant number of ferromagnetic moments and high magnetocrystalline anisotropy.43 Since magnetocrystalline anisotropy is a combination of the spin–orbit and crystal field effects, these are all parameters that can be calculated using a number of DFT programs.44,45 Small concentrations of impurities of C and N in bcc Fe were shown to modify the hybridization of the Fe 3d orbitals, even though the anisotropy contribution of the C and N were small.46–48 More important could be the strain effects from the interstitials themselves. Theoretical calculations have suggested that compounds containing mixtures of 3d transition elements and 4d and 5d elements can have large magnetocrystalline anisotropy via large spin–orbit coupling.49,50
One interesting approach is to look at marginally stable materials. Fe-Ni meteorites contain a magnetically hard FeNi compound having the L10 structure, called tetrataenite.51 This compound has a relatively high magnetocrystalline anisotropy and a magnetization equal to that of Nd2Fe14B. Unfortunately, these phases do not form under normal laboratory conditions but rather require the extremely slow cooling rates which have occurred in meteorites. The challenge is to develop a kinetic pathway to form the hard magnetic FeNi L10 structure. The existence of this phase suggests that all the possible permutations of Fe-based systems have not been fully exploited. Thermodynamic calculations, more in-depth first-principles studies and more comprehensive screen tools, such as combinatorial analysis, will be required to more fully investigate this phase space. Advanced far-from-equilibrium processing will be needed to explore new phase space for compounds that possess anisotropy with reasonable magnetization by chemical substitutions and other processing methods to induce chemical ordering.
Mn-Based Compounds
There are two possible non-Fe-based compounds that have shown significant coercivity: MnBi and MnAl. While Mn-containing compounds are typically antiferromagnetic, the moments can be induced to align if the separation of the Mn atoms is greater than 2.96 Å.52 However, the total moments in these compounds tend to be low as the large spacing translates to a small volume fraction of magnetic atoms which results in a low energy density. MnBi is unusual in that its coercivity actually increases with temperature. Its T
c is limited by the decomposition of the magnetic phase through a peritectic reaction at 355°C.53 Reported (BH)max is in the range of ~6–7 MGOe.54 The magnetic phase is hexagonal, having the NiAs structure.55 The low melting temperature of Bi and the high vapor pressure of Mn have posed some challenges to processing, but the compound can be formed using rapid solidification.56 However, this results in an isotropic structure greatly reducing the energy product. Like most permanent magnet compounds, maintaining a fine grain structure is crucial to retaining its coercivity.
MnAl: With a theoretical (BH)max of ~12 MGOe and with its low density of 5.2 g/cm3, MnAl has an attractive energy density per unit mass.57–59 The metastable ferromagnetic phase is of the L10-type and termed the τ phase. It is difficult to synthesize due to its sluggish reactions at low temperatures where it is stable.52,60 Mechanical milling has been shown to be a viable route to producing this metastable phase while retaining a fine grain structure. As with rapid solidification, this method results in an isotropic grain structure reducing the magnetic properties. While the addition of C increases the stability of the τ phase, it significantly decreases the anisotropy field (55–39 kOe) and T
c (380–285°C).61 This lower T
c greatly reduces the potential for energy applications.
The challenge to both of these systems is to increase the operating temperature capability and magnetization. Increasing the operating temperature in MnBi is particularly problematic since it is the stability of the phase rather than the strength of the exchange interaction that limits high-temperature operation. Thus, a large temperature excursion would not only demagnetize the magnet but also result in the formation of a liquid phase within the machine. For most generators and traction motors, the operating temperature is limited to well below 355°C by the temperature stability of other components, in particular the insulating materials, so 355°C is not an engineering limit. However, ternary additions that could possibly increase M
s tend to reduce the peritectic temperature, limiting choices for alloy improvement.62,63 On the plus side, the coercive field for MnBi is nearly five times that of Nd-based compounds at 127°C.64 The temperature stability of the MnAl τ-phase is also of concern since prolonged annealing has been shown to decompose the binary phase.65 While additions of C can stabilize the magnetic phase, the resulting degradation to the magnetic properties is unacceptable. Finding an alloying element that increases the stability of the τ-phase without degrading the magnetic properties will be the key making this a viable permanent magnet.
Nonstrategic Rare Earth Elements
The resource availability and demand for the various rare earth elements are not correlated; hence, the strategic concern is not uniform across the Lanthanide series. Only a few of the rare earth elements currently have high market demand, both in absolute terms and more importantly, relative to their natural abundances in commercially viable mines. The most critical supply risks in the next 5 years are Dy, Eu, Nd, Tb, and Y while Ce, La, and to some extent Pr are less so.6 In terms of resources, Ce comprises nearly 40% of all rare earth elements in the Earth’s crust,7 and in light rare earth element deposits like Mountain Pass, the ratio can be as high as 50%. Conversely, Dy, which is critical to providing the increase in high temperature capability for Nd-based alloys, is less than 2% of all the rare earth elements and is found in abundance in only a few localities. While a wide variety of magnetic compounds can be synthesized from nearly every lanthanide element, few have the high energy density of the Nd-, Pr-, and Sm-based compounds. Heavy rare earths, for instance, are unsuitable for permanent magnets even though they have large moments since these moments couple antiparallel to the transition-metal sublattice. Furthermore, the rare earth anisotropy contribution (easy-axis or easy-plane) changes sign in the middle of each of the two rare earth half-series. This means, for example, that Sm yields a positive anisotropy contribution but not Nd.12 Furthermore, the de Gennes factor causes the rare earth elements from the middle of the series to yield the largest Curie temperature. The T
c for Gd2Fe14B is nearly 100°C higher than Nd2Fe14B but its anisotropy is too low to make is it a useful magnet.66 Substitutions, even at low levels, can have a profound effect on the magnetic properties.66,67 While considerable efforts have gone into exploring a large number of possible minor alloying elements, the majority of the work has been in Nd- and Sm-based compounds. Much less research has been performed on compounds based on the more abundant Ce and La. Ce and La comprise up to about 85% of the ore in most light rare earth mines on an oxide basis. Alloys which utilize some of these more abundant rare earth elements would help to mitigate excessive demand on Nd and more importantly Dy, and at the same time increase market demand for the more abundant Ce and La providing a higher return on investment for the light rare earth element mines. However, La does not have a magnetic moment and, hence, functions only as a spacer in the crystal structure, and Ce is not well behaved due to its unusual electronic structure. Unfortunately, in intermetallic compounds with Fe, Co, or Ni, Ce has a strong tendency to give up its single 4f electron and become a 4+ or a mixed valence ion rather than the 3+ typical of most of the other rare earths. While 4+ Ce might be expected to behave like the nonmagnetic rare earth elements La, Lu, and Y with little effect on the T
c and only having magnetocrystalline anisotropy from the TM lattice, it appears that Ce is mixed valence with a resulting hybridization of the 4f electrons with the transition metal 3d electrons, which results in the lowering of T
c. If means can be found to compensate for the detrimental properties of Ce, then the availability of rare earth element magnets from existing sources could be greatly enhanced.