Production of magnetic powder

Claim 1

A process for producing a magnetic powder consisting essentially of acicular iron particles, said particles being doped with at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Co, Mn, Ni, Ti, Bi, Mo, Ag, Cr, Zn, Si and Al and additionally containing an applied metal selected from the group consisting of cobalt, nickel, manganese and antimony and mixtures thereof, said iron particles being suitable for magnetic recording which comprises the steps of (a) treating finely divided starting material in the form of acicular particles selected from the group consisting of (i) a doped iron oxyhydroxide containing a doping component selected from the group consisting of Co, Mn, Ni, Ti, Bi, Mo, Ag, Cr, Zn, Si, Al and mixtures thereof and (ii) a doped iron oxide containing a doping component selected from the group consisting of Co, Mn, Ni, Ti, Bi, Mo, Ag, Cr, Zn, Si, Al and mixtures thereof with an aqueous solution or suspension of an applied metal compound selected from the group consisting of cobalt, nickel, manganese and antimony compounds and mixtures thereof or a mixture of said solution and said suspension so that said applied metal compound is applied on said particles, (b) filtering said treated particles from the liquid medium to form a cake comprising said treated particles and drying said cake and (c) reducing said dry cake in a reducing gas stream at a temperature up to 600° C. to reduce said treated particles of doped iron oxyhydroxide or doped iron oxide containing said applied metal compound whereby the individual particles are not sintered and the initial shape of the micro-particles of the starting material is retained to form magnetic powder consisting essentially of acicular iron particles doped with at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Co, Mn, Ni, Ti, Bi, Mo, Ag, Cr, Zn, Si and Al.