World's First Practical Plastic Magnet

Stopmotioncleaverman writes "New Scientist is reporting that scientists at the University of Durham in the UK have created the world's first plastic magnet to work at room temperature from two compounds, emeraldine base polyaniline (PANi) and tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ). In 2001, scientists in Nebraska created a plastic magnet, but it only worked at 10 Kelvin. Most notably from the article - "One of the most likely applications is in the magnetic coating of computer hard discs, which could lead to a new generation of high-capacity discs". This story is also being reported in lots of other places."

Comments

I have this image..

[hexMonkey]

of Michael Jackson stuck to a lamppost

Plastic Fantastic

[Anonymous Coward]

So this is going to confuse poor operators of MRI machines then. Now they can't even take plastic stuff in. They'll have to go in naked.

Mmmmm Naked Nurses :)

This takes time

[bert.cl]

After a quick read, I can only see that the polymer needs a lot of time to get magnetic properties, as opposed to metal. This might come in handy with hard disks, however, another usage I had in mind (Lego bricks and other children's toys) falls of the boat. Since I think this will be a little to expensive.

I might be wrong though, I'm not a rocket scientist (or polymer scientist if you want)

Re:This takes time

[Spad]

This is only their first prototype. The fact that it took some time for the magnetic properties to exhibit themselves may be a property of the polymer or it could simply be a result of what amounts to guesswork in producing the stuff in the first place.

Now that they know they can get magnetic properties from the polymer they can work on refining it - making it stronger, more uniform and possibly "faster".

Also, there's no real detail about the methods behind the creation of the magnets - for all you know it might cost them 50p to make each magnet, which would make mass-produced children's toys perfectly possible.

Potential for high-end audio applications?

[j3ll0]

I'm sure the audiophiles will correct me, but is it possible that this could be used to produce seriously high quality audio gear: specifically speakers?

My understanding of speaker technology is that at it's most basic, a cone is held attached in some way to a magnet, which is moved by modulating the intensity of an opposing magnetic field. The movement of the cone produces sound.

If you could build the magnet into the cone, ie make the cone out of magnetic plastic, that would have to eliminate a source of distortion from the reproduction, which would lead to better quality sound.

I see this as a more realistic first application than building platters out of plastic.

What do the audiophiles have to say?

Re:Potential for high-end audio applications?

[JanneM]

IANAAP, but I believe electrostatic speakers covers that aspect pretty well already. There, the entire surface of the membrane is moving in concert as well.

Re:Potential for high-end audio applications?

[Lisandro]

What makes a speaker good is it's mainly the cone itself: it has to be very rigid but also very thin; if it's too heavy the amplifier needs to be more powerful (which reduces it's efficiency), and if it's too elastic it will vibrate and bend when moved back and forth, creating a nasty distortion. Not only that, the cone material has to be sonically "dead" (won't resonate at audible frequencies).
Paper is the preffered choice; there's also kevlar laminate for some high end speakers. Some high frequency speakers ("tweeters") are made of aluminium.

In fact, one of the latest "advancements" in speaker construction was not long ago when a japanese fella discovered how to shape thin wood sheets into cones... after soaking them with sake - apparently it's good for more than drinking, and makes one hell of a cone material. Not cheap though.

I build my audio gear, and you wouldn't beleive the ammount of variables that goes into speaker designing (number of speakers, enclosure volume and shape, variable impedances, type and implementation of crossover network, etc). I think this technology could improve the magnets used in speakers if nothing else, making them cheaper, or stronger, but plastic cones (unless VERY rigid), it's not a good idea overall.

Cool!

[TheDigitalOne]

Does this mean that I can now stick my floppy discs to the refrigerator without wiping out the data?

Heh :)

Could this lead

[I7D]

Could this lead to lighter electric motors? Which might make the future of printing products in a personal 3D printer more functional.