To ensure that the material has ferromagnetic properties, two different routes were taken to produce τ-MnAlC phase powder. METALPINE's task in this project is to atomize the MnAlC material to obtain powder with a crystallographic structure based on the ε-phase (precursor). Subsequent heat treatment and investigations by IMDEA revealed successful transformation to almost pure τ-MnAlC phase. LCM produced the MnAlC alloy by casting, which was subsequently crushed and thus processed into powder. After initial difficulties with comminution, IMDEA has demonstrated the validity of its self-developed “flash-milling” method to improve permanent magnet properties on the crushed MnAlC powder. A subsequent heat treatment influences the magnetic properties of the material, so the aim is to find a compromise between milling time and annealing time to achieve the highest possible remanence and coercivity (considering that typically for permanent magnets the increase in one of these properties is accompanied by a decrease in the second one). MBN applied its HEBM technology to replicate the “flash-milling” effect at pilot scale, towards a process industrialization. As can be seen in Table 1 the target value for this deliverable for the remanence was nearly achieved while the value of the coercivity has significantly exceeded the target value (in more than 6%). The sample with the best magnetic properties so far was selected to aim for larger scale production and to further optimise the annealing process.

This deliverable is currently under review by the European Commission.