A magnetic material includes magnetic particles. When a magnetic particle is rotated by 360/n degrees (n is an any integer equal to or greater than 2) around a gravity center position of the particle in a planar region, an area of the particle after the rotation overlaps with an area of the particle before the rotation by 90% or more. In the planar region, gravity center positions of from nine to eleven particles are present on a band portion in a rectangular shape. For the particles in the planar region, when a number-based 50% cumulative frequency distribution of maximum lengths in a direction passing through respective gravity center positions is defined as α, a 10% cumulative frequency distribution is equal to or greater than 0.9α, and a 90% cumulative frequency distribution is equal to or less than 1.1α. A surface of the particle is covered with an insulating film.

A Sm—Fe—N magnet includes Sm—Fe—N particles, wherein an inter-particle metal phase is present between at least two of the Sm—Fe—N particles, an average particle diameter of the Sm—Fe—N particles is less than 2.0 μm, and a percentage of the Sm—Fe—N particles having an aspect ratio of 2.0 or more is 10% or less, the inter-particle metal phase includes a Fe.sub.3Zn.sub.10 phase and an α-Fe phase in a particle form, and in the inter-particle metal phase, an area ratio of the Fe.sub.3Zn.sub.10 phase is 80% or more.

A Sm—Fe—N magnet includes Sm—Fe—N particles each having a surface, a coating layer being provided on at least a portion of the surface or on at least a portion of an interface between at least two of the Sm—Fe—N particles, or being provided on both, wherein the coating layer includes a first layer and a second layer, the first layer being situated closer to the surface or the interface than is the second layer, he first layer includes α-Fe, the second layer includes a Sm—Fe—Zn alloy, and a Zn content contained in the second layer is 1 at % or more and 20 at % or less.

The present disclosure is directed at methods of preparing rare earth-based permanent magnets having improved coercivity and remanence, the method comprising one or more steps comprising: (a) homogenizing a first population of particles of a first GBM alloy with a second population of particles of a second core alloy to form a composite alloy preform, the first GBM alloy being substantially represented by the formula: AC.sub.bR.sub.xCo.sub.yCu.sub.dM.sub.z, the second core alloy being substantially represented by the formula G.sub.2Fe.sub.14B, where AC, R, M, G, b, x, y, and z are defined; (b) heating the composite alloy preform particles to form a population of mixed alloy particles; (c) compressing the mixed alloy particles, under a magnetic field of a suitable strength to align the magnetic particles with a common direction of magnetization and inert atmosphere, to form a green body; (d) sintering the green body; and (e) annealing the sintered body. Particular embodiments include magnets comprising neodymium-iron-boron core alloys, including Nd.sub.2Fe.sub.14B.

The present disclosure is directed at methods of preparing rare earth-based permanent magnets having improved coercivity and remanence, the method comprising one or more steps comprising: (a) homogenizing a first population of particles of a first GBM alloy with a second population of particles of a second core alloy to form a composite alloy preform, the first GBM alloy being substantially represented by the formula: AC.sub.bR.sub.xCo.sub.yCu.sub.dM.sub.z, the second core alloy being substantially represented by the formula G.sub.2Fe.sub.14B, where AC, R, M, G, b, x, y, and z are defined; (b) heating the composite alloy preform particles to form a population of mixed alloy particles; (c) compressing the mixed alloy particles, under a magnetic field of a suitable strength to align the magnetic particles with a common direction of magnetization and inert atmosphere, to form a green body; (d) sintering the green body; and (e) annealing the sintered body. Particular embodiments include magnets comprising neodymium-iron-boron core alloys, including Nd.sub.2Fe.sub.14B.

A paramagnetic stainless steel with a chemical composition including by weight: 26≤Cr≤40%, 5≤Ni≤20%, 0≤Mn≤5%, 0≤Al≤5%, 0≤Mo≤3%, 0≤Cu≤2%, 0≤Si≤5%, 0≤Ti≤1%, 0≤Nb≤1%, 0≤C≤0.1%, 0≤N≤0.1%, 0≤S≤0.5%, 0≤P≤0.1%, the remainder consisting of iron and any impurities each having a content less than or equal to 0.5%, the steel having a hardness HV10 between 500 and 900. It also relates to a part particularly a horological component made of this steel and to the process for manufacturing the part.

Provided is an oxide-containing magnetic material sputtering target wherein the oxides have an average grain diameter of 400 nm or less. Also provided is a method of producing an oxide-containing magnetic material sputtering target. The method involves depositing a magnetic material on a substrate by the PVD or CVD method, then removing the substrate from the deposited magnetic material, pulverizing the material to obtain a raw material for the target, and further sintering the raw material. An object is to provide a magnetic material target, in particular, a nonmagnetic grain-dispersed ferromagnetic sputtering target capable of suppressing discharge abnormalities of oxides that are the cause of particle generation during sputtering.

A series of solid solutions AlFe.sub.2.sub._.sub.xMnxB.sub.2 have been synthesized by arc-melting and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, and magnetic measurements. All the compounds adopt the parent AlFe.sub.2B.sub.2-type structure, in which infinite zigzag chains of B atoms are connected by Fe atoms into [Fe.sub.2B.sub.2] slabs that alternate with layers of Al atoms along the b axis. The parent AlFe.sub.2B.sub.2 is a ferromagnet with T.sub.c=282 K. A systematic investigation of solid solutions AlFe.sub.2.sub._.sub.xMn.sub.x.B.sub.2 showed a non-linear change in the structural and magnetic behavior. The ferromagnetic ordering temperature is gradually decreased as the Mn content (x) increases. The substitution of Mn for Fe offers a convenient method for the adjustment of the ferromagnetic ordering temperature of AlFe.sub.2B.sub.2.

Zinc is added to a metal magnetic alloy powder including iron and silicon. An element is formed using this magnetic material, and a coil is formed inside or on the surface of the element.

A method for producing an RFeB system sintered magnet according to the present invention includes: a process (S1) of preparing a lump of HDDR-treated raw material alloy that contains a polycrystalline substance including crystal grains having an average grain size of 1 μm or less in terms of an equivalent circle diameter calculated from an electron micrograph image, by an HDDR treatment including steps of heating a lump of RFeB system alloy containing 26.5 to 29.5% by weight of the rare-earth element R, in a hydrogen atmosphere at a temperature between 700 and 1,000° C., and changing the atmosphere to vacuum while maintaining the temperature within a range from 750 to 900° C.; a process (S2) of preparing a lump of raw material alloy having a high rare-earth content by heating the lump of HDDR-treated raw material alloy at a temperature between 700 and 950° C. in a state where the HDDR-treated raw material alloy is in contact with a contact substance including a second alloy that contains the rare-earth element R at a higher content ratio than a content ratio of the rare-earth element R in the RFeB system alloy; a process (S3) of preparing raw material alloy powder by fine pulverization of the lump of raw material alloy having a high rare-earth content into powder having an average particle size of 1 μm or less; an orienting process (S4) including steps of placing the raw material alloy powder in a mold, and applying a magnetic field to the raw material alloy powder without conducting compression molding; and a sintering process (S5) including a step of heating the oriented raw material alloy powder at a temperature between 850 and 1,050° C.