Develop Your Business Brain

How much do you know about magnetism? Most people understand the basic ideas of attraction and repulsion involved in magnetism, what is not so widely known is that there are many types of magnet. Many people have magnets on their refrigerator's door. The magnets often hold notes or act as a reminder of places that they have visited. If you have magnets like those around your home, these are likely to be simple ferrite magnets. Ferrite magnets have been used for many years and can be found in a wide range of products. However, recent years have seen the introduction of rare earth neodymium magnets to the marketplace, and these offer many advantages for engineers and consumers.

Understanding rare earth neodymium magnets

The defining characteristic of rare earth magnets is that they can produce far greater magnetism from a smaller magnet. Neodymium was identified towards the end of the 19th century. It took a further 100 years for boron and iron to be alloyed with neodymium and the first rare earth neodymium magnets to enter manufacturing. Today, rare earth magnets are in products throughout the world. You could find them in aviation and rail travel, or on a smaller scale in everyday products. Apart from their compact size, there are three main reasons rare earth magnets have proved to be so popular.

Better value for money

Rare earth neodymium magnets are continuing to get cheaper. As technology advances and manufacturers create new techniques to reduce the production costs, the costs of rare earth magnets keep coming down, leading to their use expanding into even more products.

Better longevity

One thing about magnets that isn't always appreciated is that their magnetism fades over time. In general, a ferrite magnet will see its strength decline by less than 10% over 100 years. That may not seem like much, but it can be significant for many applications, especially as they age. If you use rare earth neodymium magnets instead of ferrite magnets, you can be confident that the power loss is far smaller, meaning that your products will have a longer active life.

A wide range available

When you are considering buying rare earth neodymium magnets, you don't just have one option. You can select different grades of magnet depending on your requirements. You can also choose to plate the magnet with zinc or nickel to make it less susceptible to corrosion if that could be a problem in your situation. Rare earth magnets can be customized in many ways to make them ideal for your application.