Preparation and magnetic properties of bulk nanostructured PrCo5 permanent magnets with strong magnetic anisotropy

Bulk anisotropic PrCo5 nanostructured magnets were prepared by hot deformation technique. The effects of height reduction on the structure and magnetic properties of the magnets were studied. It is found that the height reduction plays an important role in the formation of c-axis crystal texture of PrCo5 phase during hot deformation process. With the increase of height reduction, the c-axis crystal texture becomes more and more dominant, indicating strong magnetic anisotropy in the magnets. As a result, the saturated magnetization (Ms) of the magnets increases gradually, while the coercivity (Hci) of the magnets drops simultaneously, resulting in the remanence (Mr) of the magnets rising first, peaking at 80% height reduction, then dropping again. Under optimal height reduction of 80%, the PrCo5 magnet bears magnetic properties of Ms of 1.00 T, Mr of 0.86 T, Hci of 488.5 kA/m, and (BH)max of 96.87 kJ/m3.