Coercivity enhancement of Dy-free Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets by intergranular adding Ho_63.4Fe_36.6 alloy

High coercivity Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets serving in high-temperature environments always consume expensive and scarce heavy rare-earth Dy, which has simulated considerable interest to reduce Dy usage. In this work, coercivity of Dy-free magnets was investigated through intergranular adding eutectic Ho_63.4Fe_36.6 powders. The coercivity increases gradually up to 4 wt% Ho_63.4Fe_36.6 addition, however the remanence starts to deteriorate drastically as the addition is over 2.5 wt%. Coercivity above 18.0 kOe is obtained at the expense of a slight reduction in remanence through optimizing the addition amount and sintering conditions. The coercivity enhancement is explained through microstructural observations and elemental distribution analysis. (i) (Nd, Ho)₂Fe₁₄B shell forms in the outer region of 2:14:1 phase grains, strengthening the local magnetic anisotropy filed, (ii) RE-rich grain boundary phase with low Fe content is thickened, weakening the magnetic coupling between adjacent 2:14:1 phase grains, and (iii) 2:14:1 phase grains are refined upon lowering sintering temperature, reducing the microstructural defects and the stray fields aroused from neighboring grains.