The Soft Magnetic Materials Conference, also known as SMC, is an international meeting dedicated to all forms of soft magnetic materials regardless of their usage. This is a meeting that is dedicated to manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, fabricators, engineers and any other individuals or companies that might be involved in the manufacture, supply or promotion of magnets. It is also a place where different soft magnetic materials can be discussed, reviewed, and rated according to their potentials. The conference is organized by the Society of Metals and Their Uses (SM Publications). In the past, SMC has been attended by manufacturers and suppliers that focus on almost all aspects of magnet technology.
The meeting is a great venue to present papers and presentations on anything that pertains to soft magnetic materials. For those that are presenting work that relates to HCP, they can discuss the basics of electrostatic charge generation, HCP, and the use of high field power. They can discuss the hardness rating of various materials, their saturation magnetization values, and their applications.
The most important theme of this meeting is the study of electrostatic power, particularly the role that it plays in the construction and design of electrostatic motors. Electrostatic power, or the ability to create an electrical current when energized by a moving source, was a mystery until the development of modern day capacitors. Capacitors are widely used in all types of electrical machines and motor technologies. These tiny little men have become vital components for almost every type of machine that exists. Without them, our world would not be the way that it is today.
One of the areas of interest at the SMC is the soft materials that have the ability to generate the magnetic fields necessary for the operation of modern day machines. Among these are nanocrystalline alloys, polymers, metal oxides, magnetite, and many others. As you can imagine, any material with a large area of surface area, and the ability to rapidly spin, can potentially produce a large amount of electrostatic power. This is especially useful in applications where high power is needed.
Nanothermolymer and polymers are two materials that have been studied extensively for their ability to generate this electricity. The study of how soft magnetic materials can produce an electrostatic charge has become a large part of the research and development in the field of nanotechnology and microelectronics. As one can surmise, this area of study is quite important to the development of medical equipment and other technologies that require the safe and reliable manipulation of electronic circuits. For this reason, the ability to control magnetization is also of extreme importance.
The magnets in soft magnetic materials are arranged in a manner where they are able to create a localized field through the passage of the magnetic field. When the field shifts, the opposite field lines push on the colliding surfaces and cause them to bump into each other. This is called the Peltier effect. It has been discovered that the properties of Peltier metals lead to a series of beneficial effects. The use of these metals in circuit design led to the creation of low frequency generators and even better overall device performances. In fact, some of the best supercomputers in the world use soft ferrites as their main hard drive.
Some of the most interesting properties of soft magnetic materials are their permeability and coercivity. Permeability is the ability to allow the passage of energy. Although not all of the energy in the flow is converted to heat, much of it can. This property leads to a lower efficiency of transfer, which can lead to losses. However, if all the energy conversion to heat is done away with, then the losses are much smaller. This is why permeability is important in magnetic devices; the smaller the permeability, the better the transfer.
For these reasons, many materials with a combination of the above properties have been made available for use in modern technology. Two of the most commonly used materials within this category of materials are silicon steel and ferrite. Another material used for this application is titanium.