Assembly of uniaxially aligned rare-earth-free nanomagnets

We report HfCo7 nanoparticles with appreciable permanent-magnet properties (magnetocrystalline anisotropy K-1 approximate to 10 Mergs/cm(3), coercivity H-c approximate to 4.4 kOe, and magnetic polarization J(s) approximate to 10.9 kG at 300 K) deposited by a single-step cluster-deposition method. The direct crystalline-ordering of nanoparticles during the gas-aggregation process, without the requirement of a high-temperature thermal annealing, provides an unique opportunity to align their easy axes uniaxially by applying a magnetic field of about 5 kOe prior to deposition, and subsequently to fabricate exchange-coupled nanocomposites having J(s) as high as 16.6 kG by co-depositing soft magnetic Fe-Co. This study suggests HfCo7 as a promising rare-earth-free permanent-magnet alloy, which is important for mitigating the critical-materials aspects of rare-earth elements. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4753950]