Nano Composites as Magnetic materials

By Vijey (VJ) Grad Student, Manufacturing Systems Engineering. Under the guidance of: Prof. Xiaochun Li

Agenda

Magnetism with some physics Types of magnets Applications of Magnets Need for research Why Nano?

Reasons for enhanced magnetism

Challenges

A note to the audience

Id be more than happy to take your feedbacks but please forgive me for any mistakes that I might make.

Magnetism

What? - Property of materials that respond to an applied magnetic field that causes the material to be either attracted or repelled. History?
1)

In ancient India, around 600 BC the Indian surgeon, Sushruta, was the first to make use of the magnet for surgical purposes In ancient China, the earliest literary reference to magnetism lies in a 4th century BC book named after its author, The Master of Demon Valley (): "The lodestone makes iron come or it attracts it. The ancient Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (10311095) was the first person to write about the magnetic needle compass and its use in navigation Alexander Neckham, by 1187, was the first in Europe to describe the compass and its use for navigation An understanding of the relationship between electricity and magnetism began in 1819 with work by Hans Christian Oersted, a professor at the University of Copenhagen, who discovered more or less by accident that an electric current could influence a compass needle Electromagnetism has continued to develop in a continuous fashion until now

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Reasons behind Magnetism

Electric current or Moving charges

Intrinsic Spin of a particle

Moving Charges

The Biot-Savart law is an equation that describes the magnetic field generated by an electric current.

It relates the magnetic field to the magnitude, direction, length, and proximity of the electric current

Spin

Spin is an intrinsic form of angular momentum carried by elementary particles. It arises when a particle executes a rotating or twisting trajectory (such as when an electron orbits a nucleus) The existence of spin angular momentum is inferred from experiments, such as the SternGerlach experiment, in which particles are observed to possess angular momentum that cannot be accounted for by orbital angular momentum alone. It is quantized by the spin quantum number (s) Vector quantity Has magnitude and direction Spin angular momentum (S) of any system is:

Spin

(contd.)

Particles with spin can possess a magnetic dipole moment, just like a rotating electrically charged body

These magnetic moments can be experimentally observed in several ways, e.g. by the deflection of particles by magnetic fields in a SternGerlach experiment, or by measuring the magnetic fields generated by the particles themselves.
The intrinsic magnetic moment of a particle with charge q, mass m, and spin angular momentum S, is:

What does Feyman think?

Types of Magnets
Based on their occurrences

Naturally occurring
1) 2) 3) 4)

The strongest naturally occurring are the Lode stones - used as compass in ancient times Others niccolite and pyrrhotite Low strength Can attract only small objects. Fades over a period of time

Artificial Man made

1)

These are materials that have been magnetized (Magnetization or Magnetic induction is the process of making a substance temporarily or permanently magnetic, as by insertion in a magnetic field)
Stronger and less chances of fading (depending on permanent or temporary) Examples Electro Magnets, Rare earth magnets, etc.

2) 3)

Types of Magnets(contd.)
Based on the hysteresis loop

Soft Magnets
1)

The soft magnetic materials show strong magnetic properties in an external magnetic field but lose the magnetism after the external field is removed Applications Transformers and power distribution systems

2)

Hard Magnets
1)

Hard magnetic materials have more powerful magnetization than the soft magnetic materials when exposed to an external field

2)
3)

Will contain the magnetism even after the external field is removed
Applications Automotive, Tele communications, Motors and much more.

Hysteresis curve

Soft Magnetic material

Hard Magnetic material

Types of Magnets(contd.)
Based on their reaction to an external magnetic field
Caused by Orbital angular Caused by unpaired momenta? electron? Dia magnetism Para magnetism Ferro magnetism Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Susceptibility -ve +ve +ve 0 +ve +ve Alignment of dipole moments under a magnetic field N/A Random Parallel Anti Parallel Anti Parallel but stronger in one direction Single domain (Nano property)

Anti-ferro magnetism No Ferri magnetism No

Super para magnetism No

Magnetic dipole moment alignments in Paramagnets, Ferromagnets, Anti-ferro magnets and Ferri magnets tespectively

Applications of Magnets

Energy-Conversion devices (Mechanical and Electrical)

Examples Motors, Loud-Speakers, Electric generators and alternators

Household appliances (TV, Refrigerators etc.) and cell phones Recent environment friendly technologies such as hybrid vehicles and wind turbines. Sorting/separating machines. Healthcare Magnetic therapy, Detoxification, MRI

Reasons for research on Magnets

Rare Earth Element supply from China is uncertain Slow improvement in performance (Article on why it might be slow) Ms, Hc, K1 After the discovery of the Nd-Fe-B hard magnetic compound, no superior hard magnetic phase was found for a long time until the advent of nano magnetism. FePt alloys have shown superior permanent-magnet properties but Pts cost is high

Y Nano?

Next generation of fabrication possessing superior properties Use less rare earth elements. Nano composite magnet materials are made up of nanoparticles of the metals that are found in today's magnetic alloys. These possess greater magnetic properties than those found in conventional magnetic alloys. These composites have, for example, neodymium-based nanoparticles mixed with iron-based nanoparticles. Miniaturize device.

Reasons for Enhanced Magnetism

Superparamagnetism
1) 2) 3) 4)

Appears in small ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic nanoparticles Magnetization randomly flips direction under the influence of temperature Average magnetization appears to be zero In this state, an external magnetic field is able to magnetize the nanoparticles, similarly to a paramagnet. However, their magnetic susceptibility is much larger than the one of paramagnets.

Exchange Coupling
1)

Exchange-coupled magnets are Nano composites that are composed of magnetically hard and soft phases that interact by magnetic exchange coupling.

Hurdles
Three major issue:

Synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles with precise control over the size, size distribution and phase purity is challenging, owing to the requirement of hightemperature thermal annealing >500 C the particles must be assembled with their easy axes aligned to obtain a large remnant magnetization (Mr). Note that Mr/Ms is only 0.5 for isotropic samples [5,6,16], which can be enhanced significantly only by aligning their easy axes In addition, compaction of magnetic nanoparticles is important to develop permanent magnets with high-packing densities and Mr close to Ms .

Next time!

More details on specific Nano-Composites More details with exchange coupling Current fabrication methods and limitations Scope for work