Research trend in Fabrication of Metastable-phase Iron Nitrides for Hard Magnetic Applications

준안정상 기반의 질화철계 영구자석소재 제조연구동향

Rare earth magnets are the strongest type of permanent magnets and are integral to the high tech industry, particularly in clean energies, such as electric vehicle motors and wind turbine generators. However, the cost of rare earth materials and the imbalance in supply and demand still remain big problems to solve for permanent magnet related industries. Thus, a magnet with abundant elements and moderate magnetic performance is required to replace rare-earth magnets. Recently, $a^{{\prime}{\prime}}-Fe_{16}N_2$ has attracted considerable attention as a promising candidate for next-generation non-rare-earth permanent magnets due to its gigantic magnetization (3.23 T). Also, metastable $a^{{\prime}{\prime}}-Fe_{16}N_2$ exhibits high tetragonality (c/a = 1.1) by interstitial introduction of N atoms, leading to a high magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant ($K_1=1.0MJ/m^3$). In addition, Fe has a large amount of reserves on the Earth compared to other magnetic materials, leading to low cost of raw materials and manufacturing for industrial production. In this paper, we review the synthetic methods of metastable $a^{{\prime}{\prime}}-Fe_{16}N_2$ with film, powder and bulk form and discuss the approaches to enhance magnetocrystalline anisotropy of $a^{{\prime}{\prime}}-Fe_{16}N_2$. Future research prospects are also offered with patent trends observed thus far.