Fabrication of Microsized Magnetic Materials by Ink-Jet Printing

Micro-magnetic structures including Nd-Fe-B microsized particles were produced by the ink-jet printing technique. The Nd-Fe-B particles were commercial MQP-B particles with a Nd2Fe14B phase and an average diameter of 6 mu m. The particles were milled to a mean particle size of about 300 nm before being added to the standard ink, MFL-003. The resultant magnetic suspension contained nanosized Nd-Fe-B particles with a suitable weight percentage (43%) and displayed a negligible difference in parameters, such as viscosity, pH, etc., compared to those of the standard ink. The produced magnetic structure, that can be used to trap magnetic particles and can be developed into a microsized magnetic source, consists of squares with thickness of 40 mu m and surface area of 500 x 500 mu m(2). Also, the properties of the magnetic structure were discussed. The obtained results show that the ink-jet printing technique is a simple and fast method for fabricating microsized magnetic structures.