SINTERED BODY FOR FORMING RARE EARTH MAGNET, AND RARE EARTH PERMANENT MAGNET OBTAINED BY MAGNETIZING SAID SINTERED BODY

In a magnet unit comprising a plurality of magnets arranged such that end faces of adjacent ones of the magnets lie in opposed relation, it is intended to enable a surface magnetic flux distribution to have a sinusoidal wave even at a position of an inter-edge gap. Disclosed is a rare-earth permanent magnet-forming sintered body having an integral sintered structure of magnet material particles containing a rare-earth substance. The integral sintered structure is formed in a three-dimensional shape having: a cross-section with a shape defined by a radially outer-side arc-shaped surface having a first curvature radius, a radially inner-side arc-shaped surface having a second curvature radius less than the first curvature radius and having an arc shape concentric with the outer-side arc-shaped surface; and a first end face and a second end face each of which is a radially-extending face along a virtual radial line extending from a curvature center of the arc shapes; and an axial length extending in a direction perpendicular to the cross-section. Each of the outer-side and inner-side arc-shaped surfaces has a circumferential length corresponding to an angular range 2É between the two virtual radial lines defining, respectively, the first and second end faces. The magnet material particle are magnetized such that, among easy-to-magnetize axes thereof: easy-to-magnetize axes lying on a central radial line connecting the curvature center and a circumferential center point of the outer-side arc-shaped surface are oriented radially outwardly along the central radial line; easy-to-magnetize axes lying in a central region 2(1 - µ) É, except for opposite end regions defined as two regions each extending over an angular range µÉ from a respective one of the first and second end faces, are oriented, at a position on an arbitrary radial line located at an angle ¸ from the central radial line, in a direction deviated from a radially outward direction along the arbitrary radial line, toward the central radial line by an angle ¦; and easy-to-magnetize axes lying in each of the end regions are oriented in a direction deviated radially outwardly at an angle greater than the angle ¦ by 5° or more, wherein µ denotes a value falling within the following range: 0.1 ‰¤ µ ‰¤ 0.6, and ¦ denotes an angle set based on the following formula: ¦ = (90° - d) · ¸ / É, where d denotes a constant set to an angle falling within the following range: 0° < d ‰¤ 5° .