Oriented Sm2(Co, Cu, Fe, Zr)17 permanent magnets produced by solidification in a magnetic field

Oriented samples of Sm2(Co, Cu, Fe, Zr)17 have been produced by solidification from the liquid state in the presence of a magnetic field of several Tesla, their easy magnetization axis being in the direction of the applied magnetic field. This orientation allowed the development of a new process to produce anisotropic permanent magnets without using the metallurgical powder technology. This is the case for the samarium–cobalt magnets presented in this paper. In particular, it is shown that the chemical composition used to produce them might be adapted from those used for sintered Sm2(Co, Cu, Fe, Zr)17 magnets, in order to optimize their magnetic properties.