China has been known for its efficient assembly line production of several products. But recently, Chinese researchers hit the headlines for building a magnet with the world’s strongest magnetic field. This development would help make huge advances in the field of medical scanning. The High Magnetic Field Laboratory at the Chinese Academy of Sciences was the place where this record-breaking magnet was created. The inner ring of this magnet was almost a meter in diameter and created a magnetic field of more than 10 Tesla.
The team that put together this China strong magnet now plans to create a hybrid magnet using this one, by putting a smaller but more powerful water-cooled magnet inside it. With the correct technical specifications for this combination, magnetic fields upwards of 45 Tesla could be targeted. There are some possible roadblocks in this plan, though. For instance, many metals lose their superconductivity at magnetic fields beyond 20 Tesla, and the metals could also crack and snap due to their inability to withstand the high stresses generated by magnetic fields of that intensity.
There are several reasons that researchers have been experimenting with the creation of strong magnetic fields. For instance, the miniaturization of cell phones has been made possible due to hitherto unknown properties of several materials becoming apparent when placed under huge magnetic fields. High magnetic fields are also being used by physicists to mold high-temperature superconductive materials which would help bullet trains to exceed the speed of sound. The major area of interest for high magnetic field materials is in medical science. The magnet created by Chinese researchers, for example, would be likely to help create more efficient MRI scanners, which would allow much better images to be produced in the scan, without harming the body whose scanned images are being produced.
No comments:
Post a Comment