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Science

Moldable Magnets 67

Posted by Hemos from the fun-with-shaping dept.
leb writes, "What if researchers could create a tough, lightweight, moldable material, with "tunable" magnetic properties? Molded into different shapes, such a material might someday prove useful for high-density data storage, anti-static coatings for aircraft or spacecraft, and a host of other applications. A first step toward tunable, ceramic magnets is reported by a group of researchers from University of Toronto. "
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Moldable Magnets

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  • U of T baby! (Score:3)

    by Succa ( 108618 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @04:22AM (#1247043) Homepage
    Just one more piece of the puzzle for Canada's impending world domination... But seriously. I wonder if means that someone will actually invent the "chick magnet".
  • I do. I really do. I Blame Canada for this!
    --

  • Space Station (Score:5)

    by Dolohov ( 114209 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @04:26AM (#1247045)
    Reading over the description of the process, the article just -screamed- "Low Gravity" to me. If I recall correctly, early plans for the International Space Station included various materials furnaces that could probably be used for something like this. Basically, they were just flying toasters -- you would load the material, and it would be heated and analyzed according to some pretty intricate heating gradients and timings.

    I've no idea if that's still in the plan, but the idea is still viable, I'd imagine, and would definitely help study the structure of the material, if not gain insight into ways to improve it.

  • such technology could also greatly impact maglev trains. rails could be further optimized to maximize lift and speed

  • I am Magnetron! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I have escaped from my prison on the Fridge door. Now I will take over the world with my moldable magnets!

    None will be able to repel me[1]. You will all bow before me or I shall use my magnets to redirect all the ships in the world and mess up your TV screens[2].

    If you then do not give in, I shall magnetically erase all your disks.

    All I have to do is work out a way to defeat my nemesis - Captain Stainless and his sidekick Aluminium Boy!

    [1]Except magnets with the same polarity
    [2]This may not apply to you if you are not using a CRT based screen.
  • They've managed to embed iron filings in rubber. Forgive me but is this really new? I used to have such a toy when I was a kid.
  • i doubt it. i think the objective in maglev trains is to have the highest magnetic feild flux per centemeter of magnetized material.....so you can levatate the thing with lighter magnets. embedding iron particles in plastic would have the opposite effect----very weak magnetic feilds.

  • Re:Old childrens toy. (Score:3)

    by ruud ( 7631 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @04:37AM (#1247051) Homepage

    They've managed to embed iron filings in rubber. Forgive me but is this really new?

    Except in this case, they have embedded the iron (and thus the magnetic properties) in the molecules themselves, as opposed to simply mixing it in, which was undoubtedly the case with your toy.


    --

  • magnetic chips (Score:5)

    by chinoodle ( 139983 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @04:45AM (#1247052) Homepage
    Cambridge uni boffins have just announced a magnetic chip design supposedly 40 odd thousand times more power efficient than the silicon flavour. This BBC article [bbc.co.uk] has the full story.

  • This only confirms what Torontonians believe -

    Toronto's the centre of the universe.

    No, really. We *actually* think that way.

    However, those U of T guys? *they* think they're hot stuff, with their fancy *magnets* and their campus that's not in the middle of nowhere.

    Jerks.

    ---------

  • Anti-static? (Score:3)

    by mangu ( 126918 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @04:52AM (#1247054)
    They say it can be used for anti-static coatings on airplanes and spacecraft.

    Well, first of all, an anti-static coating needs to be conductive, magetic properties are irrelevant for static control.

    Second, they say the material has to be heated to 500 degrees Celsius as part of the fabrication procedure. Are they planning to bake entire airplanes and spacecraft at 500 degrees?

    Of course, if they manage to make iron nanoclusters with the exact number of atoms to optimize magnetic properties, this would be interesting for data storage. Expect to see cheaper hardisks with more capacity in the future. But bigger, cheaper HDs cannot be called "news" anymore, can they?

    Moderators, take note:
    1)Read the moderation guidelines before moderating anything

  • Although I don't know the exact details on how this tech is accomplished or how it might be used (the article was a little vague), it seems to me that this technology can be used everywhere!

    Researchers at Penn St. are using magnetic fields to try and make viable antimatter propulsion. It can also be used for more efficient nuclear propulsion (think easily thrustable and safer).
    Electric car engines with tunable properties; I would think it would make for a much more efficient engine.
    I would also like a lightweight, flexible, magnetic body suit so I can play around in a strong magnetic field to simulate low gravity.

    It can also revolutionize the Fridge door magnet industry.

  • I also don't see the static connection.

    But the temperatures reached in manufacturing the material are very different from the temperatures that they need to subject the entire craft to. If you don't believe me consider what temperatures steel is made at and ask if they ever have to heat the entire plane to that temperature...

    And about hard drives. Moore's law is faster for them than for other components. If current trends continue the in the next decade it will become reasonable to replace RAM with miniature hard drives!

    Cheers,
    Ben
  • I know that many people might find this quesiton stupid, but anyways, how would a magnetic material be anti-static? (I slept through most of my basic science classes in hs ;) )
  • Actually, bubble memory wasn't a dubious flirtation. I think it was used in quite a few US fighter jets because they couldn't risk head crashes in traditional drive systems.
  • Looking for a Chick Magnet [ebay.com]?

    (no, it's not my auction.)

  • Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are a few things I don't understand about the prospects of using this material for data storage. Why is flexible better? The reason hard drives are hard is because you can get excelent point precision on the surface and hence higher data density. Also, since it's just a magnetic surface, it should be just as good for that sort of stuff as anything else we have on the market unless they are trying to imply that the magnetic properties of the drive are mutable only by the heat method. I think that might have a tendency to destroy neighboring data. :)

  • Old News, look at my 'Frig door (Score:5)

    by Cy Guy ( 56083 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @05:24AM (#1247065) Homepage Journal
    What's the big deal? I've got a whole collection of molded magnets on my refrigerator door. I've got them in the shape of plumbers vans, pizzas, even mickey mouse.

  • Re:Half-baked ideas... (Score:3)

    by jandrese ( 485 ) <kensama@vt.edu> on Friday February 25, 2000 @05:37AM (#1247066) Homepage Journal
    Actually, you have this backwards. Hard Drives have not been increasing speed as fast as processors, in fact they are falling way behind in terms of speed. Most HD manufacturers are nearly totally dedicated on making their product bigger, not faster. Worse, HDs are still something like 10 orders of a magnitude slower than main memory, we aren't going to see them replacing main memory anytime in the near future.

  • With all the "Magnets as healing" crap ... (Score:5)

    by Pfhreakaz0id ( 82141 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @05:40AM (#1247067)
    I'm ready for the "Magna-condom": See Your Sexual Powers Increase Twentyfold! Let the scientifically acclaimed powers of magnets regain some of the "attraction" you've lost! "I can't believe it," said 62-year-old Ed Powers. "I haven't felt this randy since I was 17! I pop it on and 'Poof, we have liftoff, if ya know what I'm saying!'" Only $29.95 for a 6 pack! CALL NOW, 1-800-GET-LIFT
    ---
  • I don't know about anyone else here, but I can see how this could help create vastly more efficient transformers. Each transformer has a unique resonant frequency - the one it transforms most efficiently at. This is also the least "noisy" frequency to convert at - the waveform makes it through without looking like a lawnmower went over it. If we can tune these things to 50 or 60hz that would be.. well.. awesome.
  • Now that moldable magnets are a possibility, it just means that humankind is now one step closer to replicating the coolest boss monster of the Mega Man game series, Magnet Man.

    It is truly a great day for everyone.

  • LATE BREAKING NEWS! POSSIBLE MEMORY APPLICATION! (Score:3)

    by root ( 1428 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @06:23AM (#1247071) Homepage
    Scientists at a top research facility have theorized on a possible application of the use of this magnetic material as a random access stroage medium in computers. Tiny doughnut-shaped rings of the material would be located at every intersection in a grid of thin wires strung along two axes. Any single magnetic ring can be addressed via two wires (one on each axis). A third wire will wind its way through all of the magnetic rings along a diagonal pattern. To store a bit, the x,y wires will receive a large pulse of current. The polarity of this pulse determines wheather a '1' or a '0' is to be stored in the tiny ring. To read the bit back, Another pulse (always in the same polarity is sent down the x,y axes again). Depending on the currently magnetized state of the ring, a differing current pulse level will be detected in the 3rd wire which can be used to interpret the stored value. Since this pulse may destroy the bit value stored in the magnetic ring, the value just read must be written back immediately to the ring. This exciting new technology means that someday, computers may have many planes of vast grids of these tiny magnetic beads as their primary work storage. And will shrink the size computers down greatly while making them much faster. Scientists have yet to name this new technology and will turn to the public for ideas on this matter. Yes folks, it's an exciting time to be alive!

  • Re:Transformers (Score:5)

    by tzanger ( 1575 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @06:23AM (#1247072) Homepage
    Each transformer has a unique resonant frequency - the one it transforms most efficiently at. This is also the least "noisy" frequency to convert at - the waveform makes it through without looking like a lawnmower went over it. If we can tune these things to 50 or 60hz that would be.. well.. awesome.

    No, no no... Transformers are optimized for specific frequencies because there is no (known) way to have a given ferrite material and transformer construction work well at all frequencies. Big power transformers use laminated "sheets" of metal to store lots of flux and keep eddy currents down. Unfortunately to get any decent power out of these you need to make 'em big 'cause there's a WHACK of flux being shoved around at 50/60Hz and therefore a lot of steel required to store the flux.

    Switchmode power supplies get bigger power ratings because they work at far higher frequencies (typically 100-300kHz). At these frequencies there isn't a lot of flux at any one time so you can get away with tiny transformers for the same power rating. (picture it as draining a pool with a 1000L bucket in a couple dozen passes (60Hz) as opposed to using a 355mL pop can a couple bazillion times in the same time period (300kHz). They both get the water out, but one does it more efficiently.) They also don't use laminated sheets of steel, but rather a pressed ferrite "dust" 'cause (IIRC) it's cheaper and lighter.

    The reason a waveform looks "like a lawnmower went over it" when you put it through the wrong transformer is that you are most likely either driving it into saturation (the top-right and bottom-left-most parts of the B-H curve) or you're wayyyyyyy out of range on the frequency which causes tons of losses in the power transfer and thus your output waveform won't look much like the input.

    Thus concluding the short lesson on transformers, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to email. Similarly if you feel the need to correct, by all means do so. :-)

  • While I found the idea intriguing, I wondered about how safe this type of thing is in the long run. As I understand it, magnetic fields are not all that great for the life of biological cells. This is supposedly the basis (or at least one of) for the relatively new standards of shielded, Low-radiation monitors, PC's, TV's etc,etc..
    In fact it has been proven that excessive use of cell-phones can cause brain tumours. The fact that these gizmo's have shrunk 10-fold from their initial release is very misleading since they are still emitting enough rads to send a signal to a local cell tower.
    And what about all the cases of children living near power lines and such being exponentially more likely to get lukemia.. I hate being a spoilsport, but it looks like adding more magetic radiation to the *human background* isn't really all that great an idea, and I don't really see that there is a difference between *emissions* and *strong emissions*.
    So Even if this is theoretically amazing, in practical use we would need to ack the need for something like shielding or whatever other additional materia required between us and the emissions; driving costs up and usefullness down.
  • Well, that's because U of T is the centre of the universe. We do own the Ontario provincial parliament building's land. you're just jealous. Getting back to the moldable magnets- it would be nice to be able to a computer whose components can be designed for decrative purposes and not just the computer case.
  • They don't seem to say much about the strength of the magnets that would be created in this way. It would be nice to know whether we should be thinking about levitating trains or sticking slot-cars to tracks.
  • As far as I remember in my Chemistry degree, the only material other than Iron that exhibited ferromagentic properties were derivatives of that enigmatic C60 molecule, buckminsterfullerine. This research isn't the true way forward, while we are gaining magnet hybrids, the magnetic element is still metallic. The most exciting research comes from these organic magnets, which can be used for infinate different things.

    Unfortunately, as far as I remember, the only decent non-metallic ferromagnet only kicks in at about 35 Kelvin. But research is underway to make an organic magnet that exhibits ferromagnetic properties at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, a much more industrially workable temperature. But, I can't see a 3 metre squared cooling unit just so I can have a 300 TB hard drive :o)

    Boring yes, but I'm sure someone out there finds it interesting ... :o)

  • Re:EM bad? (Score:5)

    by re-geeked ( 113937 ) on Friday February 25, 2000 @06:58AM (#1247077)
    Puhleeez!

    Cell phones have been suggested to cause tumors, not PROVEN.

    And the EM field dangers are likely even more dubious. There's a great old episode of Frontline on how the research that spawned these fears is a spectacular example of flawed analysis.

    The best line of the Frontline is when a more clueful scientist points out that outside of a few meters proximity the level of radiation coming from power lines is bupkus compared to that coming from the sun and earth:

    "It's like your neighbor calling you up during a windstorm and saying 'Your cat is breathing on my tree.'"
  • COOL! Here's another application: I bet if you tuned some magnets to radiate at the right frequency, you might be able to heat food!
  • Could you mold these into a person?

    One with a magnetic personality?

  • Speaking of low temp magents and liquid nitrogen.

    If they can incorporate an iron/polymer materials at a molecular level to ceramics, maybe we could finally make some more commerically productive uses of the Meiser effect through incorporation of some more rare magnetic materials.

    Finally, I could live in a house that floats a foot or two off the ground! (Just don't flush the toilet or turn on any lights. )

    Except by current technology, I'd only need about 5000 gal of liquid nitrogen to cool down the superconducting material.

  • Trust me, UofT is hell for undegrads. The profs. admit they would rather take a paycut then teach undegraduate students (they don't mind when it's grad. students.) I know people who literaly don't know anything else besides UofT. Poor suckers stay in that university for years and years and years etc. and have no actual plans for their lives. Fuck UofT. I want to get out of there as soon as possible.
  • make it a little more jelly like, combine it with lots of intricate technology amd some AI - and tada you got a changeling!
    Actually this could have some cool implications for morphing technology.
  • As far as I remember in my Chemistry degree, the only material other than Iron that exhibited ferromagentic properties were derivatives of that enigmatic C60 molecule, buckminsterfullerine.

    What about Nickel (magnetic coins) and Cobalt?

  • I can't imagine going to a school with that many undergrad students on campus at any given time. I'll stick to my University of Waterloo. Summer school, baby! Co-op!

    It's all about co-op.

  • HD vs RAM is what counts, and HD speed and density is improving faster than RAM.

    Cheers,
    Ben

  • Fight magnets with magnets! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I remember coming up with what I thought was a neat idea for my TV/DVD cabinet. I cut holes in the side and installed a good quality pair of car audio speakers on each side of the cabinet. I fugures, car audio was designed to produce good sound *and* not take up a lot of space (I have no rrom for huge speaker cabinets). Installed everything just fine, flip on the TV... and the color is all distorted on the upper right side (near the speaker). Asked on the web and got a lot of ficticious, urban legend, sorta, kinda, maybe bullshit info about how you can "magnetically shield" speakers. Oh, the shield has to have certain ferrous properties, be so thick, etc. Nothing worked. Shielding was pure crock science right up there with phrenology. I was ready to tear the speakers out. But I finally came up with a solution. I taped tiny ceramic magnets on the read right backside of the TV set. The magnets would exactly counteract (local near the TV) the effects from the distant speaker (so as not to affect its operation). One tine magnet would fix ne area of the screen. The next magnet placed a few cm down cleaned up the next area. I just kept taping magnets by sliding them about over the back of the case until the screen looked better and then taped it there. Now I have a perfect picture on a TV 15 inches away from a huge 32 oz speaker magnet. And good sound. Shielding? Bah. Local magnetic cancellation. Not that actually worked and was cheaper to implement too. And since the magnets reside on the rear side of the set, they are not visible from the front like a huge chunk of metal "shielding" would be.
  • co-op rules. especially working at RIM, on campus ;)
  • Can somebody either describe to me or point me to a description of how you would use these little magnetic elements to create logic elements?
  • Or Open Text, also on campus. :)
  • It seems this post being moderated up has caused the topic to get it's own article [slashdot.org] :)

  • Interesting way to solve a problem, that's for sure!

    If you ever look a a sheilded speaker, you will see why they weigh a bit - the large magnet on the back is completely surrounded by a heavy steel "cap", which goes over and around the magnet, and shunts the magnetic flux lines away from the rear/sides of the speaker.

    It isn't really possible for someone to DIY this kind of shielding - generally, one has to buy the speaker that way, and such bare speakers usually aren't cheap (though it is possible to get surplus ones that are fairly inexpensive).

    Just to let you know...
  • You could weave the magnets into wool skirts and stockings. Give them the same polarity, and poof! No more static (cling).

    (speaking of baked...)

  • Saucer wisdom by Rudy Rucker, is a nifty little book about the future as seen through an alien abductee... trust me, it makes sense. The author discusses exactly this type of substance in-depth. I betcha the U of T guys are just pulling off of Rucker's style!
  • Drives with 40x the storage would be nice, but just get a magnet by one. Be just like the floppies of old.
  • If it's really malleable, it would just force itself
    back into a neutral shape.
  • Saw some great technology related posts but let's not forget what this could do for the medical world. Some say the magnetic therapy doesn't hold much water but I think it makes sense (after all we do have minerals like iron floating around our insides).

    These moldable magnets maybe could be used in sugical applications to help increase steady blood flow. For example, to coat that pin you just got in your [leg/hip/elbow], increase circulation and speed up the healing process. I'm sure heart patients could benefit greatly from this as well.

    Well, that's my 2 cents...
  • I meant to say the only nonmetallic component, whoops. :o) But hey, I only said "as far as I remember". Doesn't make me an idiot!
  • You mean he actually acknowledged the existance of Slashdot this time? Unlike a year ago, when he made no mention of it whatsoever.
  • So nice to see a post on a technical topic by someone who knows what they're talking about. Are you sure you're in the right place?
  • Are you sure you're in the right place?

    :-)

  • here's the link for those that are interested: Antimatter Space Propulsion [psu.edu]

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