Magnetic property and stability of Zn/Sm2Fe17Nx bonded magnets using the In metal derived from In(C2H5)(3) as a binder

Fine powders of Sm2Fe17Nx were stabilized by microcapsulation with the In a nd Zn metals produced via photochemical decompositions of In(C2H5)(3) and Z n(C2H5)(2) under UV light irradiation in an organic solvent to avoid any ad ditional oxidation of them, and after the coating treatment, they still rec orded high remanence (B-r = similar to 1.30 T) and coercivity (H-cj = simil ar to 0.74 MA m(-1)) values to provide maximum energy products of (BH)(max) = similar to 279 kJ m(-3) despite the dilution effect by existence of the nonmagnetic In and/or Zn metals used for the protection. The photochemical decomposition of In(C2H5)(3) was smoothly performed compared with the case of Zn(C2H5)(2), so that a large amount of In metal was deposited on the sur face of Sm2Fe17Nx fine particles (similar to 6.5 wt %) to be sufficient for serving as a metal binder for compression-type bonded magnets without any further addition of the same metals with low melting points. The single-lay ered metal-coated In/Sm2Fe17Nx and double-layered metal-coated In/Zn/Sm2Fe1 7Nx powders produced the corresponding In metal-bonded Sm2Fe17Nx and Zn/Sm2 Fe17Nx magnets, of which the latter ones provided the highest (BH)(max) val ue of similar to 144 kJ m(-3) among a series of metal-bonded Sm2Fe17Nx magn ets reported to date.