Interfacial exchange coupling is known to improve the permanent magnetic performance (i.e., maximal energy product) in composites of magnetically hard and soft particles. The prevailing strategy, employed in a plethora of compositions, consists in maximizing the coupling between the hard and soft phases and optimizing material parameters such as particle size or phase composition. In CoFe2O4–FeCo nanocomposites, it is experimentally shown that interparticle uncoupling in combination with the sizes of the soft phase grains below the single‐domain threshold leads to enhanced magnetic properties at room temperature, while maximizing exchange coupling implies a collapse in coercivity and hence in the maximal energy product. The results are corroborated by micromagnetic calculations and the origin of the exchange‐induced softening is discussed. It is emphasized that engineering interfaces in order to optimize, rather than maximize, the degree of exchange coupling are a necessary requirement to improve the energy product in nanocomposite magnets and to successfully develop advanced rare‐earth‐free permanent magnets.

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In this paper, we report an experimental study on the microwave modulated scattering intensity for a single Fe2.25Co72.75Si10B15 amorphous metallic microwire. The modulation is driven by applying a bias magnetic field that tunes the magnetic permeability of the ferromagnetic microwire. Furthermore, by using a magnetostrictive microwire, we also demonstrate that the microwave scattering is sensitive to mechanical stresses. In fact, we present a wireless microwave controlled stress sensor, suitable for biological applications, as a possible use of this effect. In addition, a first order theoretical approximation accounts for the observed influence of the magnetic permeability on the scattering coefficients. That model leads to predictions in good agreement with the experimental results.

One of the challenges in additive manufacturing (AM) of metallic materials is to obtain workpieces free of defects with excellent physical, mechanical, and metallurgical properties. In wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) the influences of process conditions on thermal history, microstructure and resultant mechanical and surface properties of parts must be analyzed. In this work, 3D metallic parts of mild steel wire (American Welding Society-AWS ER70S-6) are built with a WAAM process by depositing layers of material on a substrate of a S235 JR steel sheet of 3 mm thickness under different process conditions, using as welding process the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) with cold metal transfer (CMT) technology, combined with a positioning system such as a computer numerical controlled (CNC) milling machine. Considering the hardness profiles, the estimated ultimate tensile strengths (UTS) derived from the hardness measurements and the microstructure findings, it can be concluded that the most favorable process conditions are the ones provided by CMT, with homogeneous hardness profiles, good mechanical strengths in accordance to conditions defined by standard, and without formation of a decohesionated external layer; CMT Continuous is the optimal option as the mechanical properties are better than single CMT.

Exchange-coupled hard-soft biphase magnets are technologically relevant systems in that they enable tailoring the magnetization reversal process. Here, exchange-spring behavior is observed in CoFe 2 O 4 /FeCo bilayers for soft thicknesses as thin as 2 nm, at least four times below the exchange length of the system. This result is in contrast with the accepted theory for spring magnets that states that the exchange length defines the critical thickness below which both magnetic phases should be rigidly coupled. In combination with micromagnetic calculations, this surprising observation is understood as a consequence of the dominance of domain-wall propagation in the soft phase during the reversal process, so far unaccounted for in theoretical descriptions. Our results emphasize the need to expand the existing spring theory from coherent rotation to domain-wall related processes in multidomain configurations in order to accurately design magnetic heterostructures with controllable reversal.

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Fe65Co35 alloys are technologically relevant, especially in magnetic storage and composite permanent magnets, due to the fact that they present higher saturation magnetization per volume than any other material. Out of the various approaches undertaken for its production, mechanical ball milling remains the most common and efficient method, especially considering the large industrial scale of the applications. With the development of cost-efficient processing in mind, the influence of performing the synthesis of the FeCo alloys in air instead of the standard argon atmosphere is studied. The structural and magnetic characterization, along with the study of the oxygen content of the samples, proves that synthesizing FeCo alloys in air produce materials with nearly identical magnetic performance as their argon-milled counterpart, with the oxidation extent of the materials consisting almost exclusively of the oxide passivating layer located at the surface. In addition, no aging effect was observed in the saturation magnetization up to 6 months. It is concluded that the use of argon atmospheres, desiccators and/or glove boxes may be entirely removed from the process without affecting the magnetic properties.

The capability of synthesizing Fe-based antiferromagnetic metal alloys would fuel the use of electrodeposition in the design of new magnetic devices such as high-aspect-ratio spin valves or new nanostructured hard magnetic composites.