AlN/Al dual protective coatings on NdFeB by DC magnetron sputtering

AlN/Al dual protective coatings were prepared on NdFeB by DC magnetron sputtering in a home-made industrial apparatus. Comparing with Al coating, AlN/Al coatings have a denser structure of an out most AlN amorphous layer following an inner Al columnar crystal layer. The coatings and NdFeB substrate combine well, and moreover, there is occurrence of metallurgy bonding in the interface layer. Both Al and AlN/Al coatings have a good protective ability to NdFeB. Especially, the corrosion resistance of AlN/Al coated NdFeB is improved largely. AlN/Al and Al protective coatings not only do not deteriorate the magnetic properties of NdFeB, but contribute to their slight increase. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.