Spark Plasma Sintered Mn-Al (Magnets) Production and Characterization with Experimental Design

Abstract

mn-al alloys are important alloys due to their magnetic properties and have been identified as permanent magnets. This alloy possesses magnetic properties and can be manufactured at a relatively low cost. mn-al alloys could be an alternative to rare earth magnets and hard ferrites and have a promising future. in this study, the effects of sintering temperature, holding time and pressure on densification, average grain size and magnetic properties of the sPs-ed mn-al alloys were observed. However, with the different sintering parameters, the magnetic phase τ phase could be achieved. To obtain the τ phase, different annealing methods were tried, yet samples heated to 650°C and air cooled exhibited magnetic properties. This sample was selected from various sintering parameters due to its high density of 99% n6 (800°C – 300 sec – 60 mPa) and has an average grain size of 137±18.1 µm. The uniqueness of this work is that statistical approaches such as Taguchi design of experiment (Doe) and regression were used for optimization of the manufacturing process.