What are rare earth magnets?

What are rare earth magnets?

Magnets are the things that have never failed to interest us. In our childhoods, we use to play with the simple fridge magnets and wanted to know more about them. In most of our schools, we have learned about the basic magnets and their polarity. But now something called the rare earth magnets has become an important part of our lives. So, let us know a bit more about this phenomenon.

About the Rare Earth Magnets:

The simplest thing that we may say about these magnets is that they are permanent magnets. These magnets are made from alloys of the rare earth minerals which also give them their name. The rare earth magnets are the strongest permanent magnets produced on this earth. Their magnetic field exceeds even 1.4 teslas. The work on producing them started at about 1966 and almost all of them was produced by the 80’s. The alloys for making these magnets aren’t actually rare but the locations are scattered throughout the world. But most of them are sourced from China.
At times the powerfulness of these magnets can lead to hazardous conditions. If the human skin or organ comes between two magnets or a magnet and a metal surface, it may harm the person. This has been noticed in children who have swallowed such magnets.

Type of Rare Earth Magnets:

• Samarium-Cobalt: This was the first type of rare earth magnet that was produced by the scientists. They are quite expensive and the magnetic field isn’t that strong. But one strong point of these magnets is their higher curie temperatures. This makes them idle to be used in places with more temperature. Oxidation doesn’t affect them but they are definitely very brittle and the littlest of the thermal shock may crack or chip them.
• Neodynium: This is the more popular type of rare earth magnets as they are the strongest and also cheaper to get. The alloy that is used to make the magnets are made of neodymium, iron, and iron. This type of magnet has lots of work in the fields where strong permanent magnets are required. These types of the magnet also have higher stability. But the Curie temperature of the magnet isn’t very high and oxidation does affect the magnets. These types of rare earth magnets are also prone to corrosion and different coatings made of gold, nickel or zinc may help in preventing them.

Some Things that need the use of the rare earth metals:

• The Hard Discs of our Laptop and computers
  • The Audio Speakers and Headphones
  • Wind Turbine Generators
  • Mechanically Powered Flashlights
  • Usage in Industries
  • Magnet Toys
  • Miniature Figures

So, here is the needed information of the rare earth magnets. Their name may have ‘rare’ to it but it isn’t rare at all. We find the application of these magnets in almost everything that we use on a daily basis. From electronic appliances to deep sea exploration, these strong magnets help us to discover the things that are hidden from our naked eyes.