Permanent magnet materials

Permanent magnets are used in a wide range of industrial, domestic, automotive and aerospace applications. The current uses of permanent magnets in domestic applications averages 50 per household in Western Europe. The total permanent magnet sales in 1985 are valued at £780×10⁶ and this market is expected to expand at 10% per annum for the coming years. The author describes the processing, properties and uses of the two major groups of permanent magnetic materials produced by powder processing. These are the hard ferrite and rare earth permanent magnet groups