Additive manufacturing of PPS bonded NdFeB magnets to design a Halbach array for polarized neutron reflectivity experiments

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a layer by layer material printing technology which is found to be very useful in permanent magnet (PM) manufacturing. In bonded PM, the mechanical strength and the loading volume fraction of magnetic materials can be increased by mechanical extrusion of optimally magnetic particle loaded polymer composites. AM process reduces the price of magnet production by reducing the waste of magnetic materials via net-shaped printing and avoiding the cost of expensive complex molding tools needed for small scale industrial production. AM printed isotropic polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) bonded Nd-Fe-B magnets were used to design a cylindrical Halbach array for polarized neutron reflectivity measurements. We will discuss in detail about the challenges associated in developing the prototype Halbach ring magnet and validate the concept of variable magnetic contrast in neutron measurements.