Magnet removal using hydrogen decrepitation

A method, or portable apparatus, suitable for removing one or more rare earth magnets 14 from an assembly 10, comprises: exposing at least one or more selected rare earth magnets 18 to hydrogen gas, whilst in situ within an assembly 10, such that hydrogen decrepitation occurs. The decrepitation proc...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors JOHN DONALD SPEIGHT, ANDREW WILLIAMS, IVOR REX HARRIS, ALLAN WALTON
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.08.2012
Subjects
BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
CHEMISTRY
ELECTRICITY
FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS
INDUCTANCES
MAGNETS
METALLURGY
PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS
SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
TRANSFORMERS
TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
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Summary:A method, or portable apparatus, suitable for removing one or more rare earth magnets 14 from an assembly 10, comprises: exposing at least one or more selected rare earth magnets 18 to hydrogen gas, whilst in situ within an assembly 10, such that hydrogen decrepitation occurs. The decrepitation process causes the selected rare earth magnets 18 to disintegrate into a particulate form 40 which may be attracted to a magnet 38 such that it can be removed from the remaining assembly 10. This process may be used to remove faulty or damaged rare earth magnets 18 from assembly arrangements 10 for various devices such as motor or generator arrangements. The recovered rare earth particulate 40 may be reused to form new rare earth magnets. The portable apparatus may include a reaction cell 22 which may be releasably attached to a surface of the magnet 18 and/or assembly 10 to enclose a surface of a selected rare earth magnet 18 and a hydrogen gas control system 24, 26 is connectable to the reaction cell 22. The surface of a selected magnet 18 may be scored to aid the process.
Bibliography:Application Number: GB20120001215