2. Production techniques

2.1 Development of Sm2(Fe,M)17 nanocrystalline alloys and their precursors

In general, the elaboration of Sm ₂ (Fe,M) ₁₇ intermetallics is carried out by the conventional melting method for polycrystalline alloys and in ribbon form for nanocrystalline alloys. High-energy milling followed by annealing has never been implemented. However, this method is well suited to the case of alloys based on samarium, an extremely volatile element, as the reaction takes place below its melting temperature. Powder annealing times can be very short, given their high reactivity. What's more, this technique produces large, homogeneous quantities of material with reproducible characteristics. For these reasons,...