Most people would think of a magnet as something that sticks to a refrigerator door, toy, or a clasp that holds something together. But a magnet is much more than that. There is a whole range of industries that use magnets for their products. It might come as a surprise, but a wide range of objects such as the speakers in your home and the sensors in your car make use of magnets. You can find a wide range at RS Components.
Industrial use of magnets requires them to be of specific types, sizes, strength, and compositions based on the use there are put to. Most widely used magnets are made from rare-earth magnets like neodymium and samarium cobalt, ceramic or ferrite magnets, electromagnets, and alnico magnets. These can be of various forms – sheets, strips, rings, and so on.
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Industries that Use Magnets
As mentioned above, several industries make use of magnets in their applications. Let us consider some of these in detail.
Mining
Magnetic technology and magnets are widely used in the mining industry. The industry commonly uses magnets for separating the ore from metal. Powerful magnetic separators are particularly used in coal mines. Industrial magnets are useful in recovering valuable materials that might otherwise go unclaimed. Drum magnets are commonly used in coal mines and other mining industries to get rid of contaminants. This helps the companies to get the best value for every ton of materials they mine.
Food and Medicine
Food and pharmaceutical industries use magnetic technologies to remove excess iron in their products. Pharmaceutical industry use magnet to remove any iron particles from the products. Food companies use a wide variety of magnets such as magnetic drums, grids, and tubes to remove the excess iron food. They often put magnetic grids and magnetic drums in chutes and hoppers to remove the contaminants. Likewise, iron and other such contaminants are captured and separated by magnetic tubes as the food products and pharmaceutical ingredients pass through them.
Plastics and Glass
Plastic and glass industry extensively uses magnets while manufacturing all kinds of plastic and glass products. Several kinds of materials are used to manufacture both plastics and glass. However, these materials mustn’t contain any impurities. With the help of magnetic technology, any impurities are separated and removed from the ingredients, so they are perfect for manufacturing the plastic and glass products we use daily.
Industrial Ceramics
This is yet another industry that makes use of industrial magnets for the manufacture of ceramics by removing metallic impurities. As the impurities reduce the quality of the finished ceramics product, it is important to remove these impurities during the manufacturing process. The ceramic industry uses a wide range of magnetic technologies, such as plate separators, suspended magnets, and drum separators, to remove metallic impurities. This ensures the ceramic glazes and other materials are pure and the products are of high quality.
Apart from these, several other industries also use magnets frequently. The transport industry sweeps the roads and airport runways with magnets to remove any scrap metal that might damage the tyres. Magnets are an essential part of transformers, electric motors, amplifiers, and several such industrial equipment. In short, it can be said that magnets have some unique characteristics that make them the ideal choice for a wide range of applications.
