Large coercivity in nanocrystalline TbMn₆Sn₆permanent magnets prepared by mechanical milling

Abstract

Isotropic TbMn6Sn6 was prepared by mechanical milling and subsequent annealing. Although the crystalline grain size was a little larger than 15 nm, no remanence enhancement resulting from intergrain exchange coupling was observed. The coercivity μ0Hc = 0.96 T at 293 K was much larger than that expected from magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The smallest effective anisotropy constant is suggested to be 0.25 MJ m−3 when the coercivity mechanism is controlled by coherent rotation of magnetization in a single-domain grain. The contributions of shape anisotropy and magnetoelastic anisotropy are considered in order to explain the large coercivity in the magnets.