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A new class of magnets that expand their volume when placed in a magnetic field and generate negligible amounts of wasteful heat during energy harvesting, has been discovered by researchers at Temple University and the University of Maryland.
The researchers, Harsh Deep Chopra, professor and chair of mechanical engineering at Temple, and Manfred Wuttig, professor of materials science and engineering at Maryland, published their findings, "Non-Joulian Magnetostriction," in the May 21st issue of the journal, Nature. This transformative breakthrough has the potential to not only displace existing technologies but create altogether new applications due to the unusual combination of magnetic properties.
"Our findings fundamentally change the way we think about a certain type of magnetism that has been in place since 1841," said Chopra, who also runs the Materials Genomics and Quantum Devices Laboratories at Temple's College of Engineering.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.
"We have discovered a new class of magnets, which we call 'Non-Joulian Magnets,' that show a large volume change in magnetic fields," said Chopra. "Moreover, these non-Joulian magnets also possess the remarkable ability to harvest or convert energy with minimal heat loss."
[Abstract]: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v521/n7552/full/nature14459.html
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Marand on Friday May 22 2015, @02:04AM
If everyone has the attitude of "Oh, it doesn't necessarily translate into an application" every time there's a scientific discovery, we'd still be in the dark ages.
I think the "what good is it?" type response is just a natural pushback against the breathless hype-speak that always accompanies these press releases. When TFS includes the sentence "This transformative breakthrough has the potential to not only displace existing technologies but create altogether new applications due to the unusual combination of magnetic properties." it's only natural for people to show up going "yeah, like what? Prove it or stfu"
I've seen these sorts of articles linked here and on /. for as long as I can remember, and yet I can't think of any that actually lived up to those hyped-up press releases. Still waiting for any of the dozen "potentially transformative" replacements for silicon, for example. Or the various "game-changing breakhthroughs" in battery alternatives for another.
That might also be why these sorts of articles aren't generating much discussion here (6 at the time of my writing this). When I see these things, I just go "oh, neat" and then move on because there's usually no point talking about it. It's just going to be another in a long-line of hyped up releases used by the researchers to convince more people to fund them, without resulting in anything useful.
Maybe if we got a press release that actually talked about a discovery that's actually commercially viable and doing all these things that they "could" do it would be more interesting to talk about.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Friday May 22 2015, @03:35AM
Yeah -- until I saw that this was published in Nature I was completely thinking that this sounds like some free-energy perpetual motion bullshit. The hyperbole in TFS is so over the top, it instantly makes me suspicious.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by joshuajon on Friday May 22 2015, @01:53PM
When I think of this type of article mostly graphene and carbon nanotubes come to mind. I believe real applications of those materials are starting to (excuse the pun) materialize.
Yes, the tone of the article is hyperbolic, but new materials can and do lead to real advances in manufacturing. It just doesn't always happen overnight.l
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 22 2015, @04:13PM
You're right that they don't generate discussion the way that articles about software and related subjects do, because most of the SN community have more depth to talk about the latter than about the former. But I still do appreciate those who do have chops commenting on the former. It's one of the ways I have learned to see through the marketing hype (whether to sell products, sell to investors, or sell to grant-making committees) that accompanies these kinds of press releases. Even without that, though, they still have value to me as a layman. Because of them I have a sense of the importance of graphene and carbon nanotubes. I know what meta-materials are, or the cool weirdness of the Coanda Effect. I have seen videos of ornithopters flying, and UAVs designed like maple seeds. I don't have the math or science chops to begin to understand how they all work, but they inspire me in the work I do because I know I live in a world and time where cool stuff is happening.
Washington DC delenda est.