As promising candidate materials for permanent magnets, (1 - x)BaFe12O19/xCoFe(2)O(4) composite ceramics (with x = 10 wt%, 20 wt%, 30 wt%, 40 wt%) were prepared by the microwave sintering (MS) techniques. The phase composition and surface morphology of the composites were investigated using XRD and SEM, respectively. The magnetic properties of the composites were also studied. The results show that all the composite ceramics indicate an excellent exchange coupling behavior. The simultaneous enhancements of 12.84% in remanence and 32.20% in (BH)(max), compared with the parent hard ferrite (BaFe12O19) has been achieved. The exchange coupling between the hard and soft grains can be confirmed by the switching field distribution curves. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.