Greener processing of SrFe$_{12}$O$_{19}$ ceramic permanent magnets by two-step sintering

With an annual production amounting to 800 kilotons, ferrite magnets constitute the largest family of permanent magnets in volume, a demand that will only increase as a consequence of the rare-earth crisis. With the global goal of building a climate-resilient future, strategies towards a greener manufacturing of ferrite magnets are of great interest. A new ceramic processing route for obtaining dense Sr-ferrite sintered magnets is presented here. Instead of the usual sintering process employed nowadays in ferrite magnet manufacturing that demands long dwell times, a shorter two-step sintering is designed to densify the ferrite ceramics. As a result of these processes, dense SrFe$_{12}$O$_{19}$ ceramic magnets with properties comparable to state-of-the-art ferrite magnets are obtained. In particular, the SrFe$_{12}$O$_{19}$ magnet containing 0.2% PVA and 0.6% wt SiO$_2$ reaches a coercivity of 164 kA/m along with a 93% relative density. A reduction of 31% in energy consumption is achieved in the thermal treatment with respect to conventional sintering, which could lead to energy savings for the industry of the order of 7.109 kWh per year.