Addtive Manufacturing of Magnetic Materials for Clean Energy Applications

The main goal of this research is to develop a process to print near-net shape NdFeB polymer bonded magnets and to minimize the cost associated with manufacturing. One of the ways in which we can achieve this goal is by using an additive manufacturing technique to create complex shapes and geometries of polymer bonded magnets from a computer aided design which requires no tooling but little post-field-annealing and reducing the amount of waste generated. We have successfully demonstrated the fabrication of near-net shape magnets with complex geometries and high energy product using over 70vol% of NdFeB in nylon polymer composite magnets. A higher energy product of over 18 MGOe have been achieved. We will discuss in detail about thow materials chemistry aspects are used to improve the mechanical, magnetic and thermal stability of printed magnets.