Rare Earth Neodymium magnets

Chemically, they have a tetragonal crystalline body structure. Originally priced heavily, they have recently become affordable for daily use purposes and are a new product in the market.

The magnets were developed for the first time in the year 1982 by General Motors and Sumitomo Special Metals. The strength is greater compared to the magnets made of ferrite or alnico. They have slowly and gradually replaced other varieties of magnet used for various applications.

The strength of the magnetic field produced by them can measure up to around 1.5 teslas.

Rare Earth Neodymium magnets are the strongest type of permanent magnets made from an alloy comprising of neodymium (Ne), iron (Fe) and boron (B) in varied proportions. They are often referred to as “NdFeB” magnets because of their constituents. 

Different Properties of Rare Earth Neodymium magnets

The structure of Rare Earth Neodymium magnets is designed specifically to have a high uniaxial magneto-crystalline anisotropy.

This allows the specific compound to have a high coercivity value. With a magnetic field value of 1.5T, they even have a relatively high value of saturation magnetization. The maximum energy being directly proportional to the saturation magnetization, it has the capacity for the storage of magnetic energy in large amount.

The properties of the Rare Earth Neodymium magnets largely depend upon the constituent elements and the manufacturing technique. The crystalline structure gives them a high value of magnetic anisotropy.

It implies that a small crystal of the material can be magnetized easily in a particular direction but it will resist doing the same in the other direction.

Various Applications of Rare Earth Neodymium magnets

Rare Earth Neodymium magnets are used almost everywhere in today’s world. The great strength of the magnet facilitates their usage for both large and small magnets. It is used extensively in preparing toys for children and adults.
They are used in welding clamps to hold two or more pieces of metal together.

They have similar applications in drilling and machining. They find applications in oil pans and oil filters to filter the metal chips out of the oil.

They are even used as stud finders to locate hidden nails in the walls and flooring. They are used abundantly in the preparation of various computer hard drives, dynamos of bicycles, audio speakers and headphones, fishing reel brakes and in making permanent magnet motors in cordless tools.

These magnets play a pivotal role in generating electricity in shaking motion in the construction of self powered flashlights.