The invention relates to a process for fabricating complex mechanical shapes from metal or ceramic, and in particular to fabricating complex mechanical shapes using a pressure-assisted sintering technique to address problems relating to variations in specimen thickness and tooling, or densification gradients, by 3-D printing of a sacrificial, self-destructing powder mold is created using e.g. alumina and swellable binders such as polysaccharides. The binder-free sintering powder that forms the manufactured item is injected into the mold, and high pressure is applied. The powder assembly can then be sintered by any pressure assisted technique to full densification and the self-destructing mold allows the release of the fully densified complex manufactured item.

The invention relates to a process for fabricating complex mechanical shapes from metal or ceramic, and in particular to fabricating complex mechanical shapes using a pressure-assisted sintering technique to address problems relating to variations in specimen thickness and tooling, or densification gradients, by 3-D printing of a sacrificial, self-destructing powder mold is created using e.g. alumina and swellable binders such as polysaccharides. The binder-free sintering powder that forms the manufactured item is injected into the mold, and high pressure is applied. The powder assembly can then be sintered by any pressure assisted technique to full densification and the self-destructing mold allows the release of the fully densified complex manufactured item.

A sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet comprising at least one light rare earth element having a weight content between 31 wt. % and 35 wt. %, at least one heavy rare earth element having a weight content of no more than 0.2 wt. %, B having a weight content between 0.95 wt. % and 1.2 wt. %, at least one additive including Ti and having a weight content between 1.31 wt. % and 7.2 wt. %, Fe as a balance, and impurities including C, O, and N. Ti has a weight content between 0.3 wt. % and 1 wt. % and forms a Titanium-Iron-Boron phase with Fe and Boron B and being present in the sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet between 0.86 vol. % and 2.85 vol. %. The C, O, and N satisfy 630 ppm≦1.2C+0.6O+N≦3680 ppm. The sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet has a squareness factor of at least 0.95.

A sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet comprising at least one light rare earth element having a weight content between 31 wt. % and 35 wt. %, at least one heavy rare earth element having a weight content of no more than 0.2 wt. %, B having a weight content between 0.95 wt. % and 1.2 wt. %, at least one additive including Ti and having a weight content between 1.31 wt. % and 7.2 wt. %, Fe as a balance, and impurities including C, O, and N. Ti has a weight content between 0.3 wt. % and 1 wt. % and forms a Titanium-Iron-Boron phase with Fe and Boron B and being present in the sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet between 0.86 vol. % and 2.85 vol. %. The C, O, and N satisfy 630 ppm≦1.2C+0.6O+N≦3680 ppm. The sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet has a squareness factor of at least 0.95.

A sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet comprising at least one light rare earth element having a weight content between 31 wt. % and 35 wt. %, at least one heavy rare earth element having a weight content of no more than 0.2 wt. %, B having a weight content between 0.95 wt. % and 1.2 wt. %, at least one additive including Ti and having a weight content between 1.31 wt. % and 7.2 wt. %, Fe as a balance, and impurities including C, O, and N. Ti has a weight content between 0.3 wt. % and 1 wt. % and forms a Titanium-Iron-Boron phase with Fe and Boron B and being present in the sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet between 0.86 vol. % and 2.85 vol. %. The C, O, and N satisfy 630 ppm≦1.2C+0.6O+N≦3680 ppm. The sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet has a squareness factor of at least 0.95.

Various embodiments of the teachings herein include an electric motor. In some embodiments, the motor includes: a stator; and a moving component comprising an iron-based soft-magnetic structural material including crystallites of a ferromagnetic iron-based alloy separated by grain boundaries, wherein there is interlayer-free contact between the crystallites at grain boundaries. The structural material comprises ceramic fibers. A content of the ceramic fibers is between 0.2% and 10% by volume. An aspect ratio of the ceramic fibers is less than 0.1.

Various embodiments of the teachings herein include an electric motor. In some embodiments, the motor includes: a stator; and a moving component comprising an iron-based soft-magnetic structural material including crystallites of a ferromagnetic iron-based alloy separated by grain boundaries, wherein there is interlayer-free contact between the crystallites at grain boundaries. The structural material comprises ceramic fibers. A content of the ceramic fibers is between 0.2% and 10% by volume. An aspect ratio of the ceramic fibers is less than 0.1.

A reinforced magnesium composite, and a method of producing thereof, wherein the reinforced magnesium composite comprises elemental magnesium particles, elemental nickel particles, and one or more ceramic particles with elemental nickel particles being dispersed within elemental magnesium particles without having intermetallic compounds therebetween. Various embodiments of the method of producing the reinforced magnesium composite are also provided.

A reinforced magnesium composite, and a method of producing thereof, wherein the reinforced magnesium composite comprises elemental magnesium particles, elemental nickel particles, and one or more ceramic particles with elemental nickel particles being dispersed within elemental magnesium particles without having intermetallic compounds therebetween. Various embodiments of the method of producing the reinforced magnesium composite are also provided.

A sliding member of the present invention includes a coating on a base material. The coating contains hard metal particles and corrosion-resistant metal particles that have hardness lower than that of the hard metal particles. The hard metal particles contain particles that have at least Vickers hardness of 600 Hv or higher. The corrosion-resistant metal particles are made of at least one kind of metal selected from the group consisting of copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), and nickel (Ni), or are made of an alloy containing said metal. The coating has a cross section in which the hard metal particles are dispersed in an island manner in a particle aggregate of the corrosion-resistant metal particles and in which an area ratio of the corrosion-resistant metal particles is 30% or larger. Thus, corrosion of the hard metal particles in the coating is prevented, whereby the sliding member maintains wear resistance for a long time.