Controlling melt convection—an innovation potential for concerted microstructure evolution of Nd-Fe-B alloys

The solidification process and the resulting microstructure of Nd-Fe-B alloys in consideration of melt convection has been investigated experimentally with a specially designed forced crucible rotation technique. Samples were subjected to well-defined forced rotation and vibration, respectively, during induction heating and solidification. A concerted microstructure evolution is possible by enhancement or suppression of the melt convection. As a result, the microstructure pattern, mainly the volume fraction of the soft magnetic α-Fe phase, vary strongly with the strength of the internal flow motion. A distinct reduction of the α-Fe volume fraction in samples with strong melt rotation was observed by measuring the magnetic moment. Moreover, the melt flow was studied numerically taking into account the coupled heat and fluid flow fields. Furthermore, a new category of experiment has been started where a tailored magnetic field was applied in order to study the microstructure evolution due to an enhancement or suppression of the melt convection by additional alternating magnetic fields.