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Abstract High-quality TbF3 coating used for the grain boundary diffusion process (GBDP) of sintered Nd-Fe-B was prepared by the suspension plasma spraying (SPS) technique. The obtained TbF3 coating with SPS process showed a dense and continuous structure with the uniform distribution as well as a good adhesion with the Nd-Fe-B substrate. Compared with the uncoated Nd-Fe-B magnet without heavy rare earth, the coercivity of TbF3 coated Nd-Fe-B magnet enhanced from 1160 kA/m to 1824 kA/m after the GBDP heat treatment. The microstructure and composition analysis indicated that the (Nd, Tb)2Fe14B shell formed at the periphery of Nd2Fe14B grains throughout the whole sample magnet. The shell with high magnetocrystalline anisotropy effectively suppressed the nucleation of reverse domain and repaired the defects on the grain surface of the sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets, thus enhancing the coercivity. As a consequence, the SPS technology has advantage of high depositing rate, flexible production process, good boundary adhesion and homogeneous-dense structure, which is expected to become a promising candidate way of depositing diffusion coating for the GBDP of sintered Nd-Fe-B in industrial production.
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