Recent advances and future directions in magnetic materials

This paper reviews recent developments in four important categories of magnetic materials that are currently of topical interest: soft magnets, hard magnets, magnetomechanical and magnetoelectronic materials. For each category the various properties of prime interest are discussed, how these differ from one class to another, and how these properties can be controlled. Recent developments in materials are highlighted through the consideration of a few selected new magnetic materials which are at the leading edge of current research, including: amorphous magnetic fibers, nanocrystalline permanent magnet materials, ferromagnetic shape memory alloys and spintronic materials. (C) 2003 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.