In this paper, a systematic investigation of the microstructure, high performance magnetic hardness as well as novel magnetic memory effect of the Pr(4)Fe(76)Co(10)B(6)Nb(3)Cu(1) nanocomposite magnet fabricated by conventional melt-spinning followed by annealing at temperatures ranging from 600 to 700 degrees C in Ar gas for nanocrystallization are presented and discussed. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation confirms an ultrafine structure of bcc-Fe(Co) as a magnetically soft phase and Pr(2)Fe(14)B as a hard magnetic phase with a spring-exchange coupling in order to form the nanocomposite state. Electron diffraction analysis also indicates that the Co atoms together with Fe atoms form the Fe(70)Co(30) phase with a very high magnetic moment (2.5 mu(B)), leading to a high saturation magnetization of the system. High magnetic hardness is obtained in the optimally heat-treated specimen with coercivity H(c) = 3.8 kOe, remanence B(r) = 12.0 kG, M(r)/M(s) = 0.81 and maximum energy product (BH)(max) = 17.8 MG Oe, which is about a 25% improvement in comparison with recent results for similar compositions. High remanence and reduced remanence are the key factors in obtaining the high performance with low rare-earth concentration (only 4 at.%). High-resolution TEM analysis shows that there is a small amount of residual amorphous phase in the grain boundary, which plays a role of interphase to improve the exchange coupling. Otherwise, in terms of magnetic after-effect measurement, a magnetic memory effect was observed for the first time in an exchange-coupled hard magnet.

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