Invited talk on HAMR at Exeter University

I recently had the honour of giving an invited talk on Heat-assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) at the Ex-Spring Industrial Conclave which was hosted by Exeter University. Apart from introducing the magnetic recording paradigms (LMR, PMR and HAMR) and emphasizing the need for energy-assisted magnetic recording in order to continue areal density growth, I shared details on the HAMR recording physics and highlighted challenges that have been overcome in the last few years in order to bring HAMR to product....

August 1, 2020 · Simon

[PDF] “Grain-size dependent demagnetizing factors in permanent magnets” reprint update

New paper The reprint of our Journal of Applied Physics (JAP) paper “Grain-size dependent demagnetizing factors in permanent magnets” has been updated since the old version was not being discovered by the Google Scholar crawler. There is also now a version on arXiv. I hope that Google Scholar will now correctly index the paper so that it’s easier for people to find! Citation The full, correct reference for the paper is:...

March 20, 2016 · Simon

[Paper] Replacement and Original Magnet Engineering Options (ROMEOs): A European Seventh Framework Project to Develop Advanced Permanent Magnets Without, or with Reduced Use of, Critical Raw Materials

New paper Our latest paper has been published in JOM (Springer). It is a summary of the achievements (so far) of the ROMEO fp7 project. ROMEO is a project that aims to research and develop novel microstructural-engineering strategies that will dramatically improve the properties of magnets based purely on light rare earth elements, especially the coercivity, which will enable them to be used for applications above 100 degrees C. Abstract The rare-earth crisis, which peaked in the summer of 2011 with the prices of both light and heavy rare earths soaring to unprecedented levels, brought about the widespread realization that the long-term availability and price stability of rare earths could not be guaranteed....

May 5, 2015 · Simon

[Paper] “Thermal Activation in Permanent Magnets” published in JOM

This week our new paper titled “Thermal Activation in Permanent Magnets” has been published in JOM (Springer). The invited paper is under a special topic, “Permanent Magnets beyond Nd-Dy-Fe-B”. An author manuscript (reprint) is available here. Fig 1: Explanation of method for calculating the thermally activated coercivity of using micromagnetics. In the paper we provide a more detailed overview of the micromagnetic methods we have developed to model the thermal activation of permanent magnets....

April 24, 2015 · Simon

[Paper] “Thermally activated coercivity in core-shell permanent magnets” published in vol. 117 of Journal of Applied Physics.

Our new paper “Thermally activated coercivity in core-shell permanent magnets” has been published today as J. Appl. Phys. 117, 17A733 (2015); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4916542 . In the paper we use numerical miromagnetics to calculate the performance of nanostructured core-shell-like permanent magnets, like the type that can now be produced by grain boundary diffusion of granular hot-deformed or sintered rare earth permanent magnets. FIG. 3. Reversal processes in the sin- gle grain models with (i) a pure NdFeB grain, (ii) a NdFeB grain with a soft outer defect, and (iii) NdFeB core, (Dy, Nd)FeB shell and an outer soft defect....

March 27, 2015 · Simon

[Paper] Micromagnetics for the coercivity of nanocomposite permanent magnets

Our paper titled “Micromagnetics for the coercivity of nanocomposite permanent magnets” has been published in the proceedings of the 23rd International Workshop on Rare Earth and Future Permanent Magnets and Their Applications (REPM2014). The proceedings were not made available to the public but we are providing a PDF reprint here. Fig. 1. Switching field of Nd 2 Fe 14 B cubes and spheres with volume V The work was presented by Johann Fischbacher on 19th August 2014 in Annapolis, Maryland....

January 29, 2015 · Simon

[Paper] Enhanced Nucleation Fields due to Dipolar Interactions in Nanocomposite Magnets

Our paper titled “Enhanced Nucleation Fields due to Dipolar Interactions in Nanocomposite Magnets” was presented by first author, Johann Fischbacher, at the JEMS 2012 conference and subsequently published in the The European Physical Journal B. Figure: Magnetic reversal process: The pictures show the magnetic flux lines. The color denotes the magnetization direction (red: magnetization up, blue magnetization down). The gap between the soft magnetic spheres (d incl = 8 nm) is 1 nm in the first two columns and 4 nm in the third column....

January 29, 2015 · Simon

New paper: “Grain-size dependent demagnetizing factors in permanent magnets”

Our new paper “Grain-size dependent demagnetizing factors in permanent magnets” has been published in Journal of Applied Physics (JAP). http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4904854 UPDATED UPDATE: an updated reprint version that should be better for Google Scholar crawling is now available here Abstract: The coercive field of permanent magnets decreases with increasing grain size. The grain size dependence of coercivity is explained by a size dependent demagnetizing factor. In Dy free Nd2Fe14B magnets, the size dependent demagnetizing factor ranges from 0....

December 19, 2014 · Simon

Paper “Hard Magnet Coercivity” published in proceedings of REPM2014

This August Prof. Dominique Givord of Institut Néel – CNRS presented our paper titled “Hard Magnet Coercivity” during the 23rd International Workshop on Rare earth and Future Permanent Magnets and Their Applications (REPM2014) in Annapolis, Maryland. The manuscript was included in the conference proceedings and we would now like to make the reprint available to the wider public: Please click here for the PDF file. Abstract: Based on a critical analysis of the experimental coercive properties, general considerations on the reversal mechanisms in RFeB magnets are recalled....

December 12, 2014 · Simon

“Battenberg” structured magnets, new paper published in APL

Our new, cake-themed paper on nanostructured permanent magnets has now been published in Applied Physics Letters. In the paper we present results from micromagnetic simulations that assess the performance of multi-phase nanostructured permanent magnets, whose cross-section resemble that of a Battenberg cake. By including a super-hard outer shell we are able to counteract the effects of thermal fluctuations and surface defects, both of which are detrimental to the performance of such permanent magnets....

November 10, 2014 · Simon

New paper; Thermally-activated coercivity in core-shell permanent magnets

Our new paper titled “Thermally-activated coercivity in core-shell permanent magnets” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Physics. Click here to download the paper as a PDF file. In the paper we describe recent micromagnetics simulations on NdFeB grains that have undergone a dysprosium (Dy) grain boundary diffusion process (GBDP). The super hard (Dy,Nd)FeB shell that is formed during this process stabilizes the grains against thermal fluctuations that can be detrimental to the coercivity of the magnet in high-temperature situations....

October 23, 2014 · Simon