Abstract
The effect of phosphating temperature on formation, microstructure, and corrosion resistance of the phosphate chemical conversion (PCC) coatings and that on the magnetic property of the sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets were investigated. The results show that the coating mass is increased slightly with increasing the phosphating temperature. The scanning electron microscope observation demonstrates that PCC coatings have blocky structure with the grain size of 5~10 μm. The analyses of energy dispersive spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer spectra reveal that the coatings are mainly composed of neodymium phosphate hydrate, praseodymium phosphate hydrate, and a small amount of iron phosphate hydrate. The oxygen and phosphorous elements in PCC coatings are mainly distributed on the grain surface, while the iron element is mainly concentrated at the grain boundaries. The distribution of neodymium and praseodymium is relatively uniform. The electrochemical analysis and static immersion corrosion test show that PCC coatings prepared at different temperatures can effectively improve the corrosion resistance of the sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets. The coatings prepared at 70 °C exhibit a better corrosion resistance due to the uniform and dense microstructure. Although the magnetic properties of the sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets with PCC coatings are decreased, those with PCC coatings prepared at 70 °C are relatively fine. The optimal phosphating temperature of 70 °C for the sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets is determined.
Science Press
Sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnet is a rare earth permanent magnetic material with high remanence (11 kG), high coercivity (1.03 MA/m
The phosphate chemical conversion (PCC) is a surface treatment technique to form the non-conductive pyknotic phosphate coatings on the metal surface through the chemical and electrochemical reactions. PCC plays a significant role in the improvement of surface corrosion resistance owing to its low-cost, rapid coating formation, good adhesion, and easy availability for treatment of irregular surfac
Furthermore, the researches mainly focus on the effect of additives and auxiliary means on the microstructure and corrosion resistance of PCC coatings. Saliba-Silv
However, the effect of phosphating temperature is rarely investigated. For an endothermic reaction, raising the temperature benefits the chemical conversion. The coating formation speed and the coating mass can be increased if the temperature rises properly, because the surface activity of the material is enhanced. However, the precipitation may occur in the conversion solution at excessively high temperature, which will not only waste the coating-forming ions, but also coarsen the coating grains and reduce the coating corrosion resistance. If the conversion temperature is too low, the chemical conversion reaction cannot proceed sufficiently, resulting in the incomplete covering for the substrate surface or even the fact that PCC coatings cannot be forme
In this research, the microstructures and properties of phosphate coatings fabricated at different conversion temperatures were investigated, and the optimum temperature for PCC coating formation on the surface of the Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets was determined.
The commercially available N40HCE Nd-Fe-B magnets were used as the substrate with the size of 10 mm×10 mm×5 mm, 25 mm×25 mm×2 mm, and Φ10 mm×8 mm. Manganese dihydrogen phosphate was used as the main coating forming component in the phosphate solution with a small amount of accelerator. Based on Ref.[
The specimens were abraded using silicon carbide paper and then degreased in alkaline degreaser at 60 °C for 15 min. Then the pickling treatment with ultrasonic was conducted in the solution of 1.5vol% nitric acid at room temperature for 100 s. After cleaning by deionized water for several times, the specimens were immersed in the phosphate solution at 50~ 90 °C for 20 min. Finally, the specimens were washed with deionized water and dried by blowing air at room temperature. The flow diagram for preparation of PCC coatings is shown in

Fig.1 Flow diagram of preparation of PCC coatings
The TE214S analytical balance with the accuracy of ±0.1 mg was used to measure the specimen mass. The coating mass M (g·
(1) |
where m1 and m2 are the mass (g) of the specimens before and after the coatings are stripped, respectively; A is the area of the substrates (
The microstructures and element distributions of PCC coatings and the sintered Nd-Fe-B substrates were observed using the SU-70 field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) coupled with the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS. Furthermore, the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR, BRUKER TENSOR 37) was used to characterize the functional groups of PCC coatings with the spectra range of 400~4000 c
The corrosion resistance of the specimens was evaluated by the electrochemical tests with the classical three-electrode cell. The platinum was used as the counter electrode, the saturated calomel electrode (SCE) was used as the reference electrode, and the uncoated or coated specimens with an exposed area of 1 c
The static immersion corrosion test was also conducted to assess the corrosion resistance of the bare Nd-Fe-B substrate and the specimens after PCC treatment at different phosphating temperatures. The corrosive medium was 3.5wt% sodium chloride solution and the soak duration was 192 h. The corrosion rate v (mg·c
(2) |
where M1 and M2 are the mass (mg) of the specimens before and after immersion, respectively; S is the exposed area of the substrates (c
The magnetic properties, including intrinsic coercivity, remanence, maximum energy product, and squareness, of Nd-Fe-B magnets with and without PCC coatings were measured at room temperature by NIM-2000 magnetic measuring instrument (National Institute of Metrology of China). At least five specimens were examined under each condition to acquire the mean value and standard deviation.
The coating mass is the prime factor to assess the quality of phosphating bat
It is clearly observed that the coating thickness of 3 μm barely changes, but the coating mass is increased slightly from 3.93±0.07 g·
FE-SEM image and EDS analysis of the Nd-Fe-B substrate are shown in

Fig.2 FE-SEM image (a) and EDS point scanning analysis (b) of sintered Nd-Fe-B substrate
Fig.3 shows FE-SEM microstructures and corresponding EDS analyses of PCC coatings prepared at different phosphating temperatures for 20 min. It can be noticed that the morphologies are basically the same. PCC coatings are mainly composed of irregular block grains attached to the surface of sintered Nd-Fe-B matrix with a grain size of 5~10 μm. EDS results show that oxygen, phosphorus, neodymium, praseodymium, and iron are the main constituent elements of the coatings. It can be inferred that the main phases of PCC coatings are the neodymium phosphate hydrate, praseodymium phosphate hydrate, and a small amount of iron phosphate hydrate. The phosphating temperature has a little effect on the phase composition of PCC coatings on the surface of sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets.

In addition, Fig.3 indicates that the conversion coating prepared at the phosphating temperature of 50 °C has a rela-tively large grain spacing. The density of PCC coatings is increased with increasing the phosphating temperature. However, when the temperature is elevated to 80 °C, the grains grow into different sizes and the surface roughness increases. This may be caused by the dissolution and recrystallization of the coatings in the acidic conversion solution at higher temperature

Fig.4 FE-SEM images at high magnification (a~e) and corresponding element distributions of rectangular areas in Fig.4a~4e (f~j) of Nd-Fe-B magnets with PCC coatings prepared at different phosphating temperatures: (a, f) 50 °C, (b, g) 60 °C, (c, h) 70 °C, (d, i) 80 °C, and (e, j) 90 °C
FTIR spectra of PCC coatings obtained at different temperatures are shown in Fig.5. All FTIR spectra of coatings exhibit the typical absorption peak of PO


Fig.6 shows the static immersion corrosion rates of Nd-Fe-B substrate and Nb-Fe-B magnets with PCC coatings prepared at different phosphating temperatures in 3.5wt% sodium chloride solution. It can be seen that the fastest corrosion rate of 0.0147±0.0034 mg·c
The change trends of OCP of Nd-Fe-B substrate and Nb-Fe-B magnets with PCC coatings prepared at different phosphating temperatures in 3.5wt% sodium chloride solution are shown in Fig.7. It can be seen that OCP of sintered Nd-Fe-B substrate is stable at around -0.955 V vs. SCE, while that of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets with PCC coatings is relatively higher, suggesting that PCC coating can improve the corrosion resistance of the Nd-Fe-B magnets. Among them, the highest stable OCP value of PCC coating prepared at 70 °C represents the optimal corrosion resistance. When the conversion temperature is 50 °C, the grain spacing of PCC coating is larger, i.e., the density of PCC coating is reduced, thereby weakening the corrosion resistance. When the phosphating temperature increases to 80 and 90 °C, OCP of the coatings fluctuates greatly, suggesting the poor stability of the coatings prepared under these conditions. According to Fig.3 and
It can be found that Ecorr determined by OCP is higher than that obtained by the polarization curves due to the scan rate effect on the Tafel slopes and the disturbance of the charging curren

Fig.8 Potentiodynamic polarization curves of Nd-Fe-B substrate and Nb-Fe-B magnets with PCC coatings prepared at different phosphating temperatures
The potentiodynamic polarization curves of Nd-Fe-B substrate and Nb-Fe-B magnets with PCC coatings prepared at different phosphating temperatures are presented in Fig.8. The corrosion potential Ecorr and the corrosion current density Icorr of the Nd-Fe-B substrate and Nd-Fe-B magnets with PCC coatings in the 3.5wt% sodium chloride solution are listed in Table 2, which are calculated based on the data in Fig.8 by the extrapolation method.

The intrinsic coercivity, remanence, and maximum energy product, and squareness are the main technical indicators to assess the magnetic properties of sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets. Fig.9 shows these magnetic properties of the Nd-Fe-B substrate and Nb-Fe-B magnets with PCC coatings prepared at different phosphating temperatures.
Owing to the corrosive action of the acidic conversion solution, the magnetic properties of all Nd-Fe-B magnets after PCC treatment are decreased to a certain degree. When the magnets are immersed in the acidic chemical conversion solution, the active Nd-rich phase will dissolve. The lamellar Nd-rich phase around the grain boundaries is beneficial to the high coercivity of the Nd-Fe-B permanent magnet
It can also be seen from Fig.9 that there is slight change of the magnetic properties of the sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets after PCC treatment at different temperatures. The magnetic properties of the Nd-Fe-B magnets are relatively fine when the phosphating temperature is 70 °C.

In general, PCC coatings prepared at 70 °C have relatively uniform microstructure and optimal corrosion resistance. Therefore, 70 °C is the optimal phosphating temperature to prepare PCC coatings on the sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets when the pH value of the conversion solution is 1.0.
Because the formation mechanism of chemical conversion coatings is complex, there is no unified theory. According to the mechanism of steel phosphatin




Fig.10 Schematic diagrams of coating formation on the surface of sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets: (a) matrix dissolution; (b) formation and crystallization of the amorphous phase; (c) grain growth and coating formation; (d) dissolution and recrystallization of the grains
When the Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets are immersed in the phosphating solution, the electrochemical corrosion occurs due to different potentials of different phases. N
With the phosphating process further proceeding, the grains of PCC coatings continuously grow, and new crystal nuclei are generated continually due to the continuous hydrolysis of the phosphate radical in the conversion solution. Then PCC coating is formed by the close packing of a large number of grains, which is the stage of grain growth and coating formation.
The acidity of the phosphating solution changes during the continuous nucleation and growth of PCC coatings, resulting in the dissolution of the coating grains. Furthermore, the
1) The coating mass is increased gradually with increasing the phosphating temperature, but the increment is not significant. All the phosphate chemical conversion (PCC) coatings prepared at different temperatures have a blocky structure, and the coatings prepared at 60 and 70 °C are relatively more uniform and denser. PCC coatings are mainly composed of neodymium phosphate hydrate, praseodymium phosphate hydrate, and a small amount of iron phosphate hydrate. The phosphating temperature has a little effect on the phase composition.
2) PCC coatings prepared at different temperatures can effectively improve the corrosion resistance of the sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets, and the phosphating temperature has a little effect on the corrosion resistance. PCC coatings prepared at 70 °C exhibit the optimal corrosion resistance due to the relatively uniform and dense microstructure.
3) The magnetic properties of sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets are decreased after phosphating treatment. The magnetic properties of the Nd-Fe-B magnets with PCC coatings prepared at 70 °C are relatively fine.
4) The optimal phosphating temperature for sintered
Nd-Fe-B magnets to prepare PCC coatings is 70 °C when the pH value of the solution is 1.0.
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