Two Canadian researchers have developed a new method for producing motor magnets, they claim, this can lead to reduce the cost, and realize the traditional magnets technology cannot be achieved by the design.From Canada’s national research council (NRC) Fabrice Bernier and Jean Michel Lamarre, added that the use of their robot control of the production of “made in cold spraying material gain” magnet has good mechanical and thermal properties.
Currently, the high performance magnets used in motors are usually manufactured using powder compacting (for sintering magnets) or injection moulding (for bonding magnets).In these processes, the magnets first need to be manufactured before they are formed and assembled into final products.The NRC technology merges these steps into one step.
In the process of cold spraying, fine powder is accelerated to supersonic speed in high speed compressed gas jet.When the powder flow hits the target at high speed, the particles undergo plastic deformation and adhere to the surface, thus forming a cascade.In order to control this process, industrial robots are required to perform fast and accurate three-dimensional movements, thus creating complex shapes.Compared with other additive manufacturing techniques, cold spraying technology can achieve high accumulation rate, which can produce a few kilograms of magnet per hour.
The high speed of sedimentary materials and the need for polymers in the substrate make the mechanical properties of the magnets “far superior” to the traditional magnets.The magnetic material’s adhesion to the surface of the component is “special” because the process does not use glue or assembly.
Compared with the brittle sintered magnets, the magnets produced by the cold spraying process are easier to process.They also show the characteristics of thermal conductivity enhancement and better temperature control.Magnets resist corrosion and oxidation for longer.
Canadian researchers have successfully used new magnetic materials to build and test prototypes.They are now working on other ways to enhance the design of the motor using cold spraying, and also developing soft magnetic materials.
According to Bernier, NRC technology “will be able to create a more compact, better for the future of the motor, and pave the way for using cold spraying technology to build the whole motor, with lower cost and better thermal management and more complex geometrical shape and function and other significant advantages”.
So far, much of the NRC’s development has been focused on electric motors, due to the importance of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the next generation of vehicles.But researchers believe other industries could benefit from their technology.Future applications may include magnetic cooling, wind turbines and telecommunications equipment.
