Magnetic (rare-earth-free) breakthrough may have significant pull

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.northeastern.edu/news/stories/2011/12/magnets.html

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]Magnetic breakthrough may have significant pull[/font]
[font size=4]December 19, 2011[/font]
[font size=3]Northeastern University researchers have designed a super-strong magnetic material that may revolutionize the production of magnets found in computers, mobile phones, electric cars and wind-powered generators.

The research was supported by a three-year, $360,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The findings — which dovetail with Northeastern’s focus on use-inspired research that solves global challenges in health, security and sustainability — will be published in an upcoming edition of the journal Applied Physics Letters.

“State-of-the-art electric motors and generators contain highly coercive magnets that are based on rare-earth elements, but we have developed a new material with similar properties without those exotic elements,” said coauthor Don Heiman, a physics professor in the College of Science.

…

For this study, the team of researchers, including undergraduates Tom Cardinal and Thomas Nummy and graduate student Steven Bennett, found that the compound manganese gallium can be synthesized on the nanoscale to produce a coercive field that rivals materials containing rare-earth elements, which are considerably more expensive to process and mine.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3671329

[txlibdem]

1. Bravo!

[AtheistCrusader]

2. Very cool.