The currently most used and efficient magnetic materials comprise rare-earth elements, the most known being the Nd-Fe-B magnet doped with Dysprosium (Dy) and Terbium (Tb). There is a strong incentive to a transition towards cheapest and more environmentally-friendly materials. A few publications reported that a metastable iron nitride, Fe16N2, could be a very good candidate to replace rare-earth-based magnets. Indeed, its chemical constituents (iron and nitrogen) are some of the most abundant elements on earth. After being disregarded for some years, there is nowadays an increasing interest for this specific compound, particularly on its processing as bulk samples, which is an arduous task.

Different processing routes are scrutinised in the present study, investigating different nitriding conditions of iron with different precursors (gaseous N2 and ammonia) to reach mass-production. The subsequent stabilization of the α''Fe16N2 phase was then considered owing to dedicated heat treatment and the analysis of the ordering kinetics.