Provided is a non-oriented electrical steel sheet that contains substantially no Al and contains large amounts of Si and Mn and has low iron loss, comprising a chemical composition containing C: 0.0050% or less, Si: 2.0% or more and 6.0% or less, Mn: 1.0% or more and 3.0% or less, P: 0.20% or less, S: 0.0050% or less, N: 0.0050% or less, Al: 0.0050% or less, and one or more selected from B: 0.0001% or more and 0.0050% or less, Nb: 0.0001% or more and 0.0050% or less, and V: 0.0005% or more and 0.0500% or less, with a balance consisting of Fe and inevitable impurities, wherein a number density of Si—Mn nitrides with an average diameter of 50 nm or more and 500 nm or less is 1 or less per μm.sup.3.

An R-T-B based permanent magnet includes a rare-earth element R, a transition metal element T, and B. The R-T-B based permanent magnet includes at least Nd as R. The R-T-B based permanent magnet includes at least Fe as T. The R-T-B based permanent magnet contains a plurality of main phase grains and a plurality of voids. The plurality of main phase grains includes at least R, T, and B. An area ratio of the plurality of voids in an arbitrary cross-section of the R-T-B based permanent magnet is larger than 0.2% and 2% or smaller.

A ferritic stainless steel sheet is provided that has a chemical composition consisting of, in mass %, C: 0.001 to 0.020%, Si: 0.02 to 1.50%, Mn: 0.02 to 1.50%, P: 0.01 to 0.05%, S: 0.0001 to 0.01%, Cr: 10.0 to 25.0%, Ti: 0.01 to 0.30%, N: 0.001 to 0.030%, and optional elements, with the balance being Fe and unavoidable impurities, wherein: a grain size number is 6 or more; the ferritic stainless steel sheet satisfies the formulas [A+B≥12.0/t], [X+Y≥12.0/(t−0.3)] and [(X+Y)−(A+B)≤5.0] with respect to crystal orientation intensities of a ferrite phase obtained by X-ray diffraction; and the sheet thickness is 1.0 mm or more.

Proposed is a Fe-based alloy and a filler metal including the same. The Fe-based alloy contains 15% to 25% by weight of nickel (Ni), 0.5% to 3% by weight of manganese (Mn), 2% to 8% by weight of cobalt (Co), 0.1% to 0.5% by weight of carbon (C), and the balance iron (Fe) and unavoidable impurities.

This hot-rolled steel sheet has a predetermined chemical composition, in a microstructure, by area %, ferrite is less than 15.0%, residual austenite is less than 3.0%, L.sub.52/L.sub.7, which is a ratio of a length L.sub.52 of a grain boundary having a crystal orientation difference of 52° to a length L.sub.7 of a grain boundary having a crystal orientation difference of 7° about a <110> direction is 0.10 to 0.18, a standard deviation of a Mn concentration is 0.60 mass % or, less, and a tensile strength is 980 MPa or more.

The present invention relates to a rail which has a predetermined chemical composition and in which at least 90% of a metallographic structure from an outer surface of the rail bottom portion, as the origin, to a depth of 5 mm is a pearlite structure, a surface hardness HC of a foot-bottom central portion is in a range of Hv 360 to 500, a surface hardness HE of a foot-edge portion is in a range of Hv 260 to 315, and HC, HE, and a surface hardness HM of a middle portion positioned between the foot-bottom central portion and the foot-edge portion satisfy HC≧HM≧HE.

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 multicomponent FeCoSiM soft magnetic alloy is provided. M of the alloy is one or more of V, Cr and Ni. A sum of atomic percentages of alloy elements in the alloy is 100%. The atomic percents of the alloy elements meet the following conditions: Fe, 68˜78 at %; Co, 4˜12 at %; Si, 14˜18 at %; V, 0˜4 at %; Cr, 0˜4 at %; and Ni, 0˜4 at %. The preparation method of the alloy includes weighing raw materials according to the atomic percentages of the alloy elements and then performing melting and annealing heat treatment each in vacuum or a protective atmosphere. The alloy is obtained by a reasonable design of compositions and contents. A magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant of the alloy is low, a magnetostrictive coefficient of the alloy approaches zero and the alloy has characteristics of high saturation flux density and low coercivity.

A process for producing R-T-B-based rare earth magnet powder having excellent coercive force and high remanent flux density. A process for producing R-T-B-based rare earth magnet powder by HDDR treatment, in which a raw material alloy for the R-T-B-based rare earth magnet powder includes R (wherein R represents at least one rare earth element including Y), T (wherein T represents Fe, or Fe and Co) and B (wherein B represents boron), and has a composition including R in an amount of between 12.0 atom % and 17.0 atom %, and B in an amount of between 4.5 atom % and 7.5 atom %; the HDDR treatment includes a DR step including a preliminary evacuation step and a complete evacuation step; and a rate of pressure reduction caused by evacuation in the preliminary evacuation step is not less than 1 kPa/min and not more than 30 kPa/min.