Damper

Magnetic smart materials are used in the manufacture of various applications such as brakes and high-performance shock absorbers for civil engineering (bridges and buildings), industrial and household appliances (washing machines and fitness equipment), medical devices (prosthetics) and the automotive industry. (cars and trucks). For example, the Audi magneto rheological remoter is a magneto-rheological damper equipped with an electronic control unit for suspension that automatically adjusts its damping characteristics according to the current road conditions and driving style.

Spread heating

Magnetic smart materials are used to cool Microsystems based on thermo magnetic convection: magnets are used as pumps (no moving parts, no power or maintenance), and magnetic smart materials are used as coolants. Cool magnetic smart material is attracted to the part that needs cooling, it warms up and becomes more magnetic and fresh magnetic smart material is replaced instead. This cycle may continue indefinitely.

Liver feedback

Liver feedback allows people to experience virtual object contact as they would in the real world and improve accuracy as the virtual object is grasped. It can also enable people to disturb different virtual objects by providing their users with powered feedback between, for example, their fingers.

Sealing

Magnetic smart materials can also be used as liquid seals in equipment. For example, in a computer hard disk drive, ferrofluid can be used to form a seal around a rotating shaft.

The Medical use

Other applications include magnetic smart materials and medical applications that are expected to increase in the future. Examples are the delivery of drugs to precise locations within the body and serve as contrast agents for MRI scans.

Catalyst

Magnetic smart materials can also be used as a catalyst for the depolymerization of waste plastics so that they can be recycled (from cradle to cradle) while saving energy and reducing the impact on the environment. The depolymerization process takes place at relatively low temperatures and the catalyst is circulated and reused using a magnetic field. Magnetic smart material as a catalyst, through higher selectivity and higher polymer conversion, can produce higher concentrations of monomer than traditional recycling processes.

Separation

Magnetic fluids are also used for the separation of magnetic and non-magnetic materials and the separation of material densities. For example, when recovering metals from waste or separating diamonds from gangue material from the mining industry. The use of a magnetic field produces a magnetic pressure distribution in the ferrofluid that causes the ferrofluid to change as its density varies with height. The magnetic material is attracted to the strongest magnetic field region, and the non-magnetic material is moved to the low magnetic field region having a matching effective density.