In this paper, hard magnetic materials for future use in electrical machines are discussed. Commercialized permanent magnets used today are presented and new magnets are reviewed shortly. Specifically, the magnetic MnAl compound is investigated as a potential material for future generator designs. Experimental results of synthesized MnAl, carbon-doped MnAl and calculated values for MnAl are compared regarding their energy products. The results show that the experimental energy products are far from the theoretically calculated values with ideal conditions due to microstructure-related reasons. The performance of MnAl in a future permanent magnet (PM) generator is investigated with COMSOL, assuming ideal conditions. Simplifications, such as using an ideal hysteresis loop based on measured and calculated saturation magnetization values were done for the COMSOL simulation. The results are compared to those for a ferrite magnet and an NdFeB magnet. For an ideal MnAl hysteresis loop, it would be possible to replace ferrite with MnAl, with a reduced weight compared to ferrite. In conclusion, future work for simulations with assumptions and results closer to reality is suggested.
We propose a magnetic measurement method utilizing a patterned post-sample aperture in a transmission electron microscope. While utilizing electron magnetic circular dichroism, the method circumvents previous needs to shape the electron probe to an electron vortex beam or astigmatic beam. The method can be implemented in standard scanning transmission electron microscopes by replacing the spectrometer entrance aperture with a specially shaped aperture, hereafter called ventilator aperture. The proposed setup is expected to work across the whole range of beam sizesfrom wide parallel beams down to atomic resolution magnetic spectrum imaging.
Measuring magnetic moments in ferromagnetic materials at atomic resolution is theoretically possible using the electron magnetic circular dichroism (EMCD) technique in a (scanning) transmission electron microscope ((S)TEM). However, experimental and data processing hurdles currently hamper the realization of this goal. Experimentally, the sample must be tilted to a zone-axis orientation, yielding a complex distribution of magnetic scattering intensity, and the same sample region must be scanned multiple times with sub-atomic spatial registration necessary at each pass. Furthermore, the weak nature of the EMCD signal requires advanced data processing techniques to reliably detect and quantify the result. In this manuscript, we detail our experimental and data processing progress towards achieving single-pass zone-axis EMCD using a patterned aperture. First, we provide a comprehensive data acquisition and analysis strategy for this and other EMCD experiments that should scale down to atomic resolution experiments. Second, we demonstrate that, at low spatial resolution, promising EMCD candidate signals can be extracted, and that these are sensitive to both crystallographic orientation and momentum transfer.
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