High anisotropy alloys.

The materials described above depend on shape for their large uniaxial anisotropy. Much work has also been done on materials having a large uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Of these, the most successful have been cobalt–platinum (CoPt) and manganese–bismuth (MnBi) alloys.

Alnico alloys.

High coercive force will be obtained where domain wall motion can be inhibited. This condition can occur in an alloy in which two phases coexist, especially if one phase is a finely divided precipitate in a matrix of the other. Alloys containing the three elements iron, nickel, and aluminum show just such behaviour; and permanent magnet materials based on this system, with various additives, such as cobalt, copper, or titanium, are generally referred to as Alnico alloys.

Rare-earth

–cobalt alloys. Isolated atoms of many elements have finite magnetic moments (i.e., the atoms are themselves tiny magnets). When the atoms are brought together in the solid form of the element, however, most interact in such a way that their magnetism cancels out and the solid is not ferromagnetic. Only in iron, nickel, and cobalt, of the common elements, does the cancelling-out process leave an effective net magnetic moment per atom in the vicinity of room temperature and above. Unfortunately, however, it loses its ferromagnetism at temperatures above 16° C (60° F) so that it is not of practical importance. Several of the rare-earth elements show ferromagnetic behaviour at extremely low temperatures, and many of them have large atomic moments. They are not, however, of great practical value.

Barium ferrites.

Barium ferrite, essentially BaO:6Fe2O3, is a variation of the basic magnetic iron-oxide magnetite but has a hexagonal crystalline form. This configuration gives it a very high uniaxial magnetic anisotropy capable of producing high values of Hc. The powdered material can be magnetically aligned and then compacted and sintered. The temperature and duration of the sintering process determines the size of the crystallites and provides a means of tailoring the properties of the magnet. For very small crystallites the coercive force is high and the remanence is in the region of half the saturation flux density. Larger crystallites give higher Br but lower Hc. This material has been widely used in the television industry for focussing magnets for television tubes.A further development of commercial importance is to bond the powdered ferrite by a synthetic resin or rubber to give either individual moldings or extruded strips, or sheets, that are semiflexible and can be cut with knives. This material has been used as a combination gasket (to make airtight) and magnetic closure for refrigerator doors.

Lenz’s law

In electromagnetism, statement that an induced electric current flows in a direction such that the current opposes the change that induced it. This law was deduced in 1834 by the Russian physicist Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz (1804–65). Thrusting a pole of a permanent bar magnet through a coil of wire, for example, induces an electric current in the coil; the current in turn sets up a magnetic field around the coil, making it a magnet. Lenz's law indicates the direction of the induced current. Because like magnetic poles repel each other, Lenz's law states that when the north pole of the bar magnet is approaching the coil, the induced current flows in such a way as to make the side of the coil nearest the pole of the bar magnet itself a north pole to oppose the approaching bar magnet. Upon withdrawing the bar magnet from the coil, the induced current reverses itself, and the near side of the coil becomes a south pole to produce an attracting force on the receding bar magnet.A small amount of work, therefore, is done in pushing the magnet into the coil and in pulling it out against the magnetic effect of the induced current. The small amount of energy represented by this work manifests itself as a slight heating effect, the result of the induced current encountering resistance in the material of the coil. Lenz's law upholds the general principle of the conservation of energy. If the current were induced in the opposite direction, its action would spontaneously draw the bar magnet into the coil in addition to the heating effect, which would violate conservation of energy.

Demonstration of Faraday's and Lenz's laws.