Production method, production apparatus and heat treatment apparatus for anisotropic magnet powder

Abstract

In HDDR (hydrogenation, disproportionation, desorption and recombination) treatment, a mass production method and its apparatus for anisotropic rare earth magnet powder had not been established because it is difficult to keep a constant temperature of material due to an exothermic/endothermic reaction with hydrogen. The present invention compensates for the heat accompanied with the exothermic/endothermic reaction by a counter reaction by the use of dummy material. The apparatus includes sets of a processing vessel and a heat compensating vessel in contact and in control of their temperature. The apparatus enables the temperature control of HDDR treatment within a desired range and constantly brings out the maximum property from the material. The controlability of the method is independent of the production scale so that mass production by HDDR treatment can be set into practice.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.