AlNiCo Magnets for students

AlNiCo Magnets for students

High Performance Alnico Magnets are composed primarily of Cobalt, Nickel, and Aluminum with the addition of Iron, Copper, and sometimes Titanium that helps make them become stronger permanent magnets. They can be magnetized to produce strong magnetic fields. Alnico magnets produce magnetic fields with strength at their poles as high as 1500 gauss, or about 3000 times the strength of the earth's magnetic field.

Cast Alnico can be processed to be intricate and complex shapes to meet customer's demand .Some types of Alnico are isotropic, meaning they can be efficiently magnetized in any direction. Other types, such as Alnico 5 and Alnico 8 are anisotropic, meaning they have a preferred direction of magnetization, orientation. Anisotropic magnets generally have a greater magnetic capacity in their preferred orientation than isotropic. Anisotropic Alnico magnets are oriented by heating them above a critical temperature, and cooling them in the presence of a magnetic field.

Unlike casted Alnico magnets, sintered Alnico magnets offer lower magnetic properties but better mechanical characteristics. Mixes of metal powders are pressed to shape and size, and then sintered at 2300oF in a hydrogen atmosphere. The sintering process is well suited to large volume production, and results in parts that are structurally stronger than cast magnets. Relatively close tolerances can be achieved without grinding. But both are hard and brittle materials. They require skillful machining that is best performed on specialized equipment.

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