Effect of TbF3 diffusion on the demagnetization behavior and domain evolution of sintered Nd–Fe–B magnets by electrophoretic deposition

We studied the magnetic properties and domain evolution of annealed and TbF3-diffused sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets using the electrophoretic deposition method.After TbF3 diffusion,the coercivity increased significantly by 9.9 kOe and microstructural analysis suggested that Tb favored the formation of the(Nd,Tb)2Fe14B shell phase in the outer region of the matrix grains.The first magnetization reversal and the dynamic successive domain propagation process were detected with a magneto-optical Kerr microscope.For the TbF3-diffused magnet,the magnetization reversal appeared at a larger applied field and the degree of simultaneous magnetization reversal decreased compared with an annealed magnet.During demagnetization after full magnetization,the occurrence of domain wall motion(DWM)in the reproduced multi-domain regions was observed by the step method.The maximum polarization change resulting from the reproduced DWM was inversely related to the coercivity.The increased coercivity for the diffused magnet was mainly attributed to the more difficult nucleation of the magnetic reversed region owing to the improved magneto-crystalline anisotropy field as a result of Tb diffusion.