Permanent magnets without rare earth (RE) elements, such as alnico, will improve supply stability and potentially decrease permanent magnet cost, especially for traction drive motors and other increased temperature applications. Commercial alnico magnets with the highest energy product are produced by directional solidification (DS) to achieve a <001> columnar grain orientation followed by significant final machining, adding to the high cost. Additive manufacturing (AM) is an effective method to process near net-shape parts with minimal final machining of complex geometries. AM also, has potential for texture/grain orientation control and compositionally graded structures. This report describes fabrication of alnico magnets by AM using both laser engineered net shaping (LENS)/directed energy deposition (DED) and electron beam melting powder bed fusion (EBM/PBF). High pressure gas atomized (HPGA) pre-alloyed alnico powders, with high purity and sphericity, were built into cylindrical and rectangular samples, followed by magnetic annealing (MA) and a full heat treatment (FHT). The magnetic properties of these AM processed specimens were different from their cast and sintered counterparts of the same composition and show a great sensitivity to heat treatment. The AM process parameters used in this developmental study did not yet result in any preferred texture within the alnico AM builds. These findings demonstrate feasibility for near net-shape processing of alnico permanent magnets for use in next generation traction drive motors and other applications requiring increased operating temperatures and/or complex engineered part geometries, especially with further AM process development for texture control.

Mn-Al powders were prepared by rapid solidification followed by high-energy mechanical milling. The rapid solidification resulted in single-phase ε. The milling was performed in both the ε phase and the τ phase, with the τ-phase formation accomplished through a heat treatment at 500 °C for 10 min. For the ε-milled samples, the conversion of the ε to the τ phase was accomplished after milling via the same heat treatment. Mechanical milling induced a significant increase in coercivity in both cases, reaching 4.5 kOe and 4.1 kOe, respectively, followed by a decrease upon further milling. The increase in coercivity was the result of grain refinement induced by the high-energy mechanical milling. Additionally, in both cases a loss in magnetization was observed. Milling in the ε phase showed a smaller decrease in the magnetization due to a higher content of the τ phase. The loss in magnetization was attributed to a stress-induced transition to the equilibrium phases, as no site disorder or oxidation was observed. Surfactant-assisted milling in oleic acid also improved coercivity, but in this case values reached >4 kOe and remained stable at least through 32 h of milling.

Successful growth and characterization of thin films of giant magnetocaloric Gd5(SixGe1−x)4were reported in the literature with limited success. The inherent difficulty in producing this complex material makes it difficult to characterize all the phases present in the thin films of this material. Therefore, thin film of binary compound of Gd5Si4 was deposited by pulsed laser deposition. It was then covered with platinum on the top of the film to protect against any oxidation when the film was exposed to ambient conditions. The average film thickness wasmeasured to be approximately 350 nm using a scanning electron microscopy, and the composition of the film was analyzed using energy dispersive spectroscopy. X-ray diffractionanalysis indicates the presence of Gd5Si4 orthorhombic structure along with Gd5Si3 secondary phase. The transition temperature of the film was determined from magnetic moment vs.temperature measurement. The transition temperature was between 320 and 345 K which is close to the transition temperature of the bulk material. Magnetic moment vs. magnetic field measurement confirmed that the film was ferromagnetic below 342 K. Successful growth and characterization of thin films of giant magnetocaloric Gd 5 (Si x Ge 1Àx ) 4 were reported in the literature with limited success. The inherent difficulty in producing this complex material makes it difficult to characterize all the phases present in the thin films of this material. Therefore, thin film of binary compound of Gd 5 Si 4 was deposited by pulsed laser deposition. It was then covered with platinum on the top of the film to protect against any oxidation when the film was exposed to ambient conditions. The average film thickness was measured to be approximately 350 nm using a scanning electron microscopy, and the composition of the film was analyzed using energy dispersive spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates the presence of Gd 5 Si 4 orthorhombic structure along with Gd 5 Si 3 secondary phase. The transition temperature of the film was determined from magnetic moment vs. temperature measurement. The transition temperature was between 320 and 345 K which is close to the transition temperature of the bulk material. Magnetic moment vs. magnetic field measurement confirmed that the film was ferromagnetic below 342 K. V C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.[http://dx

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