Design
Guide
Handling
and Storage
Handle
magnets with care!
Personnel
wearing pacemakers should not handle magnets.
Magnets
should be kept away from sensitive electronic equipment.
Modern
magnet materials are extremely strong magnetically and
somewhat weak mechanically. Any person required to handle
magnets should be appropriately trained about the potential
dangers of handling magnets. Injury is possible to personnel,
and magnets themselves can easily get damaged if allowed
to snap towards each other, or if nearby metal objects
are allowed to be attracted to the magnets.
Materials
with low coercive forces such as Alnico 5 must be carefully
handled and stored when received in a magnetized condition.
When stored, these magnets should be maintained on a
"keeper"which provides a closed loop protecting
the magnet from adverse fields. Bringing together like
poles in repulsion would lead to irreversible, though
re-magnetizable, losses.
Samarium
Cobalt should be carefully handled and stored due to
the extremely brittle nature of the material.
Uncoated
Neodymium magnets should be stored so as to minimize
the risk of corrosion.
In
general, it is preferable to store magnetized materials
under vacuum-sealed film so that the magnets do not
collect ferromagnetic dust particles over time, since
cleaning this accumulated dust is time consuming.
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