The rare earth magnets are used for variety of purposes. Most of them are used indoors. Many people wonder whether it is possible to use the magnets outdoors. According to the experts, most of the rate earth magnets can never be used outdoors whether you live in desert or cold area. There are many reasons why you must not use them for outdoor applications.
What you must not do with these magnets
If they are exposed to outdoors, then it might lead to theft or accidental loss. It is difficult to find them once buried in earth. One of the most important reason you must never take the magnets outdoors is they are liable to corrosion.
Iron is the first component of the NdFeB magnets to destroy. Iron has brilliant properties like strength, reliability, durability etc. However, there is one factor namely moisture that can break the magnet badly. The magnets expose to air and moisture will rust fast.
In order to prevent these products from rusting, many manufacturers coat their products with layer of gold, nickel, epoxy or zinc. These substances will never let moisture to reach the core of magnet. If you consider the surplus magnets, then they get chipped or cracked with the course of time. Many a times, you would not be able to detect these cracks with naked eyes.
However, they are enough to let moisture enter the magnet. Once left outdoors, they are exposed to humidity in air and moisture from precipitation. If the moisture reaches the iron part of magnet, then it will become useless for indoor and outdoor purpose.
Here are some of the most common applications of these substances-
• They form a valuable part of hard drives of computers
• They are used in the bicycle dynamos
• They are used to manufacture the wind turbine generators
• They are great part of headphones and the audio speakers
• Motors of the cordless tools
If you have to use the neodymium magnets outdoors, then make sure that you take all the precautions, inspect the outer coating of the magnet for hairline cracks and checks. Even if it looks fine, you should bring it indoors as soon as it becomes damp. You could protect the magnets the most by keeping them indoors.
Precautions to be taken care of
Like any other rare earth magnet found in nature, the neo magnets have few drawbacks. They have highly attractive forces. This feature comes along with the unique hazards. The small magnets have higher potential of causing serious bodily damages. They can chip the fingers if they are trapped in between the two magnets. Rare cases are reported in which the magnets have resulted in broken bones.
The NdFeB magnets are the most cost effective option available in the market. They have much similar properties to that of samarium cobalt. However, they are quite easily oxidized. There are many online and offline companies selling brilliant quality neodymium magnets. You have to do the homework well before shopping for the rare earth magnets.
