Study on bulk Sm 2 Fe 17 N x sintered magnets prepared by spark plasma sintering

Sm₂Fe₁₇N_x sintered magnets were fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. Effects of sintering pressure, sintering temperature and heating rate on the magnetic properties and crystal structures of the magnets were investigated. The results showed that the density of the magnet was obviously improved with increasing sintering pressure, but the coercivity dropped simultaneously because Sm₂Fe₁₇N_x decomposed into SmN, α-Fe and N₂. The coercivity decreased rapidly when sintering temperature was above 200°C under 1 GPa sintering pressure, which indicated that high pressure promoted the decomposition of Sm₂Fe₁₇N_x even at low temperature. In addition, the decomposition could not be effectively restrained even if the heating rate reached 450°C min⁻¹.