#samarium

Made this for fun

Samarium is upset

Lithium is pissed off

How defects make permanent magnets even more efficient

Rare-earth magnets are essential for electric motors in vehicles, drones, and trains, forming the backbone of modern, environmentally friendly mobility. These are not simple blocks of metal, but carefully engineered materials with a complex internal nanostructure composed of tiny building blocks called phases, each with its own crystal structure, chemistry, and physical properties. How magnetization behaves at the interfaces between these tiny building blocks and how well it resists demagnetizing forces ultimately determines the strength and stability of the magnet, and therefore the efficiency and reliability of the motor or generator. By combining advanced magnetic measurements, various microscopy techniques, and micromagnetic simulations, researchers from the DFG Collaborative Research Center investigated a high-performance samarium-cobalt magnet, Sm2(Co,Fe,Cu,Zr)17, which is known for its excellent thermal and chemical stability. Atomic-scale imaging revealed that while high- and medium-performance magnets can appear structurally similar, they differ substantially in their chemical composition at the nanoscale. The research is published in Nature Communications.

*slides out from under a rock* Hello. Behold. Here are my children

Details under cut!