Credit: UrFU / Victoria Maltseva.
Physicists at the Ural Federal University (UrFU, Ekaterinburg, Russia) will print unique magnets, magnetic systems, soft magnetic elements with a 3D printer. Samples made with this printer can be useful in almost any field from medicine to space. For example, it can be used by robotic surgical assistants to unclog arteries and veins or to place stents. According to Aleksey Volegov, associate professor of the Department of magnetism and magnetic nanomaterials at the UrFU, now scientists are deciding which kind of magnets they will start printing first.
"These will be magnets based on either samarium or cobalt compounds. They can be used in submarines, at space stations, on ships. That is, in those areas where there are very strong temperature changes and we need magnets with special properties in terms of stability," said Aleksey Volegov. "Or it will be simple magnets based on an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron, which work at normal temperatures. Such magnets are used in smartphones, hard disk drives, and automotive engine sensors. For example, such magnets are installed in the latest generation Tesla electric motors."