The research in permanent magnets has the goal to improve the energy product through control on all length scales. At the atomic structure the correct structure with high remanence and coercivity should be made. On the nanoscale the shape and size of the nanoparticles should be controlled and finally in the macroscopic sized magnets the orientation of the nanoparticles should be aligned with respect to each other to maximize the energy product.
A magnetic unit cell of an iron oxide at the atomic scale, where the second illustration is the size and shape of a nanoparticle and the orientation o
f compacted nanoparticles.
Right hand side is TEM image of compacted nanoparticles and a compacted pellet.
The produced nanoparticles will be characterized by means of X-ray and neutron powder diffraction give the atomic structure, plus the size and shape of the particles.
