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New Class of "Non-Joulian" Magnets Change Volume In Magnetic Field

Posted by Soulskill on from the polarizing-research dept.

Zothecula notes an announcement from the University of Maryland saying they have developed a new class of magnets, called "Non-Joulian" magnets, which physically expand in the presence of a magnetic field. "In the 1840s, physicist James Prescott Joule discovered that iron-based magnetic materials changed their shape but not their volume when placed in a magnetic field. This phenomenon is referred to as "Joule Magnetostriction," and since its discovery 175 years ago, all magnets have been characterized on this basis." Another significant property of these new magnets is that they can harvest or convert energy with very little waste heat (abstract). The magnets are created when thermally-treated, iron-based alloys are heated in a furnace, then rapidly cooled. When they reach room temperature, they have an odd, almost cellular shape on the microscopic level. The researchers say the magnets have numerous applications for energy-efficient sensors and actuators.

39 comments

  1. I'm strangly attracted to this concept. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    sure, we lose money on every magnet we produce and sell, but we make it up on volume.

    1. Re:I'm strangly attracted to this concept. by Gizan · · Score: 3, Informative

      You win the internet so far this morning.

  2. Cool by pushing-robot · · Score: 2

    Now for a Jamming Gripper that works...in space!

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  3. Maurice, you naughty little monkey by goombah99 · · Score: 2

    King Joulian says he expands the mostest and has a magentically attractive mating dance.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  4. Re:free energy by konohitowa · · Score: 4, Funny

    This are the only real free energy bitches. Magnetism and gravity

    Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

  5. Publicly Funded Research by konohitowa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    According to the articles, the alloy isn't particularly exotic and the processing isn't difficult. I'd love to know what they specifically used. Sadly, they published in Nature. So I can view the paper for $5 or download as PDF for $32. Or, you know, subscribe for $200. What I don't get is why I, as one of the millions of taxpayers that funded this research, don't have free access to the paper.

    Yes. I know. Preaching to the choir, OA journals, etc. That still doesn't change the fact that I find this both irritating and wrong.

    1. Re:Publicly Funded Research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Find the manuscript. Should be available.

    2. Re:Publicly Funded Research by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Go to a library.

    3. Re:Publicly Funded Research by konohitowa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When you say "go to a library" you are implying that everyone has access to a University library or similarly large, well-funded location. Not all libraries have access to journals. Although I don't have a reference for this, I suspect that the vast majority of libraries don't. I'm fortunate in the fact that I can spend an hour of total travel time (granted, 20 minutes of this will be spent waiting for the train) to get to a major University. I envision that one day there will be a series of tubes that give us access to this type of information from nearly anywhere and not a severely limited number of physical locations.

    4. Re:Publicly Funded Research by GameboyRMH · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Aaron Swartz thought the same thing...

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    5. Re:Publicly Funded Research by lgw · · Score: 2

      Go to a library.

      What century are you living in?

      The results of publicly funded research must be made publicly available, in a manner appropriate for the current century.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    6. Re:Publicly Funded Research by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      I envision that one day there will be a series of tubes that give us access to this type of information from nearly anywhere and not a severely limited number of physical locations.

      Yeah, but then they'll charge access for it, and the copyright cartel will insist we're not allowed to see anything without paying them a trillion dollars.

      Hey, wait a minute ... that's exactly what we have now.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    7. Re:Publicly Funded Research by konohitowa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      He did more than just think it.

    8. Re:Publicly Funded Research by konohitowa · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You are just part of a brainwashed generation that demands to have everything you want paid for AND given to you, not only for free, but with zero effort on your part.

      I'm 50. Is that the generation you're referring to? I'm also 1/2 of a two-engineer household. My yearly income taxes are significantly more than an entry level engineering salary - you know, the taxes that already helped to pay for the research. Don't tell me I'm not making any effort and don't jump to conclusions about "my generation" because you obviously know fuck all about it.

      But hey. You're a smart person. You know all about me. My political views. My library status. Guess what? You're just as wrong about all of them. Absolutely every assumption you made was 100% wrong. Amazing. I would imagine you must get used to being wrong a lot though.

      Instead of blathering on with your erroneous, ignorant opinions, maybe you ought to take a good long look at yourself and realize you're actually preaching to yourself. Geez. What a douchebag.

    9. Re:Publicly Funded Research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Although I don't have a reference for this, I suspect that the vast majority of libraries don't.

      Maybe you should find a reference then. Of the last three places I lived, the county public library had access to Nature at all three. One of them even had a system to access the stuff from home (via tubes...), just like the university libraries do. The public libraries will have fewer less common journals than a university library, but even some small ones will cut deals.

    10. Re:Publicly Funded Research by konohitowa · · Score: 1

      My county only has 4 million residents. The county library system doesn't have *any* journals available. I have a card. And a login. And I've been to multiple branches.

    11. Re:Publicly Funded Research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pro-tip: Sometimes you can find pdfs of articles elsewhere, typically on the authors homepages. Google is your friend. Doesn't work for me this time though :-/

    12. Re:Publicly Funded Research by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      It's available in all libraries, you just have to know where to look. They're down in the cellar, in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    13. Re:Publicly Funded Research by konohitowa · · Score: 1

      Yeah. I tried that first. It's what frequently works for me with mathematical papers. But thanks. At least someone who typically needs lmgtfy might get something out of this.

    14. Re:Publicly Funded Research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, you bought the article yet? How 'bout sharing? I know my tax dollars went to the crack whore that sleeps at the library.

    15. Re:Publicly Funded Research by cyn1c77 · · Score: 1

      What I don't get is why I, as one of the millions of taxpayers that funded this research, don't have free access to the paper.

      Yes. I know. Preaching to the choir, OA journals, etc. That still doesn't change the fact that I find this both irritating and wrong.

      You don't get free access because the authors chose not to post a preprint/author's draft online and also chose not to submit to an open access journal. Why not pay the $35 and then deduct it from your taxes? :)

      Frankly, I'd be more pissed about how you also don't have free access to the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.

    16. Re:Publicly Funded Research by ultranova · · Score: 1

      What I don't get is why I, as one of the millions of taxpayers that funded this research, don't have free access to the paper.

      Costs are public, profits are private.

      That's a compromise reached after raw capitalism's "costs are someone else's problem" resulted in near-collapse of the entire system. The problem is, it's impossible to calculate the ultimate costs of any action (install automation? That causes layoffs, which causes poverty, which causes crime, which caused the hit-and-run that killed your cousin) so we maintain a public fund - state budget - which pays for them, and which everyone is forced to pay to according to their ability, which we call taxes.

      This system has obvious problems with incentivizing destructive behaviour. It's also opposed by many people who apparently think communism and fascism can't happen again, should enough people fare badly enough for long enough. We're currently seeing a crisis caused by these twin factors: financial geniuses had little reason to care if their actions destabilized the entire world economy, and austerity hawks concentrate on cutting support for the poorest, which is screwing over both those poor and everyone who sells consumer goods. Time will tell if what emerges on the other side is still some form of capitalism, or if all the accumulating changes have finally reached the point of phase transition, similar to what caused capitalism to emerge from feudalism in the first place.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    17. Re:Publicly Funded Research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am more pissed about that. Unfortunately, this article wasn't about that topic.

    18. Re:Publicly Funded Research by a_n_d_e_r_s · · Score: 1

      Todays library is called The Pirate bay.

      --
      Just saying it like it are.
    19. Re:Publicly Funded Research by lgw · · Score: 1

      Can you actually find torrents for academic journals? That would be quite a public service by whoever's taking the time to scan them.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    20. Re:Publicly Funded Research by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 1

      so we maintain a public fund - state budget - which pays for them, and which everyone is forced to pay to according to their ability, which we call taxes

      ...which almost everyone is forced to pay according to their inability to avoid* them...

      *In the form of paying for lawyers, accountants and legislators to facilitate avoiding them.


      The rest of your post is right on the money. I stay awake a lot of nights wondering what the other side of that phase transition from capitalism will look like. Obviously, corporate feudalism replacing nationalism seems the most likely near term.

    21. Re:Publicly Funded Research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I'm 50.
      > I'm also 1/2 of a two-engineer household.
      > My yearly income taxes are significantly more than an entry level engineering salary

      So if you're not a starving 20-something bachelor student, why are you such a cheap-ass?

    22. Re:Publicly Funded Research by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      OMG, I can't leave my basement! Everything MUST come to me in a form I consider most convenient!

      If you go to an appropriate library they have computers on which you download academic journals (funded by your tax dollars even!). If you go to the wrong library, they might have to order a paper copy for you, but paper does have a long and glorious history. Embrace it!

      Or you can read the open access journals. Just don't, uh, believe everything you read. Or you can wait the six months until the authors have the right to release their paper freely. Or you can vote to actually fund scientists, so they can afford the $5200 to publish their paper in Nature as an open access article.

      The OP seemed to be expressing a genuine interest in reading the paper. The option I suggested first (library) is by far the easiest, but I'd certainly recommend the last one (vote for proper funding).

  6. Deducing Fe-Ga by konohitowa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Looks like I can deduce Fe73.9–Ga26.1 from one of the images attached to the abstract.

  7. dolphins? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder if the magnetic material dolphins use is similar.

    Sensing a physical change would seem to be easier than sensing a electronic change

  8. Re:you fail 17! by konohitowa · · Score: 1

    Welcome to 1997, AC! How was the trip back?

  9. Re:free energy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This are the only real free energy bitches. Magnetism and gravity.

    They're both the same thing, you stupid apes just haven't found out yet.

  10. Water, fire, air and dirt... by RDW · · Score: 1

    ...non-Joulian magnets, how do they work?

  11. how many months? by sanman2 · · Score: 1

    Will my Joulian magnets hold my Julian calendar on the wall?

  12. What!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It wasn't 3D printed!? It will never work.