A compact survey is given of the processing of high-performance perman
ent magnet materials, which are based on the intermetallic compounds S
mCo5, Sm2Co17 and Nd2Fe14B. In addition, the present development state
of magnets based on the recently discovered Sm2Fe17N3 phase is compil
ed. Besides the commercial manufacturing technologies, powder metallur
gy including sintering and rapid quenching, novel processing routes, i
.e. mechanical alloying, hydrogen treatment and hot working of cast in
gots, are also covered.