Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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What material will block magnetic force
Current posting:
A. @Charles_Tramble --
Check out this page from KJ
www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=shielding-materials
Engineer - Michigan
March 7, 2022
⇩ Related postings, oldest first ⇩
Q. Hi.
I'm currently working on a project that requires that I shield one magnet from the other. I'm looking for a material that will not be attracted to the magnets, but will stop all lines of force. Is there such a material out there? Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Charles Tramble- Canada
2001
A. I could also be totally wrong, but I think a conductor will at least partially block magnetism. I have heard of copper screen being used to enclose sensitive radio experiments. I would guess maybe the magnetism is converted to current in the conductor (?)
Adam Weston- Northridge, California, United States
2001
A. While you can sap away magnetic flux with metals (which will be attracted to the magnets), my understanding is (and I could be totally wrong) is that there is no non-conductor that can act as a magnetism insulator, i.e., that no insulator you can put there will improve on a vacuum.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2001
! Ted, in my experience vacuum does not block magnetic field. And that makes sense because earth's magnetic field spreads in space and we are affected by terrestrial mag. fields. Most metals and conductive materials do not block it. However, iron is one that attenuates it considerably and may be some ferrites. There are companies that are specialized in such materials. I can't think of a name but web-search will help.
Also, a magnetic field does not generate current in conductors unless it is rapidly fluctuating near the conductor (electromagnetism).
Mandar Sunthankar- Fort Collins, Colorado
2001
Thanks, Mandar; I realize that magnetic fields easily traverse a vacuum.
What I am saying is that it is my understanding that although you can block electricity with rubber, and you can block x-rays with lead, and you can block light rays with an opaque sheet, nothing will block gravity and I don't think anything will 'block' magnetism either.
I was only suggesting that my understanding is that magnetism is like gravity in this way, there being no material you can put there that won't transmit magnetic forces as well or better than the vacuum did. Iron and some other materials can certainly absorb the magnetism, converting it to electricity; but I don't think it's possible to actually block magnetic forces with a non-conductor in the sense that you can use lead to block x-rays. But this is not a subject that I have studied, and I could be wrong :-(
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2001
Q. Sir,
I'd like to know Is there any chemical compound which restrict the Magnetic path without spoiling the Magnetic Force?
Thanking you
Yours Truly
A.Syed Abith
Syed Abithengineering -Chennai, Tamil Nadu, INDIA
2004
Q. I am currently looking for the same thing. I have been told that nickel might have the same properties of what we are looking for. I have yet to test this though. Also it might be a nickel alloy I am curious as far as what you are needing this for though.
Joshua Gleason- Tucson, Arizona
2005
Q. I want to make magnetic material non magnetic by applying some type of coating; is it possible?
Yogesh ShindeMechanical engineer - India
September 13, 2008
A. Hi, Yogesh. To my knowledge there is no such thing. Maybe you should consider making the item from a non-magnetic stainless steel?
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
September 18, 2008
Q. Hello
I am ignorant of all things magnetic, but was just wondering if there is such a thing as magnetic thread which could be sewn into a fabric, and which would be pliable enough to bend?
Thanks
Sandy
- Cooran, Queensland, Australia
August 8, 2009
A. Hi, Sandy.
I think that one is no problem. A thin low carbon steel wire would be magnetic and could be quite soft and pliable.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
October 2010
Q. I am trying to block the magnetic field on the horizontal sides and only keep the vertical side.
Example: the north side of the vertical part of a square magnet would be North. The horizontal would be south on one side and north on the other. I want to block the horizontal sides and only allow the vertical north to pass through the opening. Can this be done?
Hobbyist - Whitby, Ontario Canada
October 11, 2010
Q. What material is best for shielding a magnet? How can I block a magnetic field?
Kumar Shresthaelectronics - Hong Kong
January 14, 2012
A. I am not sure, but an electric field can stop or shield the magnetic field or magnetic lines ... similarly as we know that passing current discharges the magnet, means it has the capacity to stop the flow of magnetic lines or it can block it ... (I'm not sure about this; sorry)
Dibyendu biswas- Chennai,tamilnadu, India
October 28, 2012
Q. Is anything available in this world which will stop magnetic field from passing through it.
Ajeet Kumar- Agra, UttarPradesh, India
July 4, 2014
Is there a durable and bouncy magnetic material out there?
Q. Hello world, I was wondering was there any magnetic material out there that is susceptible to all temperatures and also durable? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!
Louis Truscott- Scottsbluff, Nebraska USA
August 13, 2014
A. Hi Louis. In what way are refrigerator tape magnets an unsatisfactory solution to your needs?
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August 2014
! Basically most of the questions here could be summarised by the question "Can I make a laser magnet?". A magnet whose attractive force or repellant force is concentrated into a narrow beam with no seepage in any other direction.
If you could do this then you could build an engine that could generate limitless electricity and solve the world's energy needs. The material you are searching for does not exist currently if it did the implications would be more dramatic than discovering atomic power.
Product designer - Hackney london, UK
June 27, 2015
January 27, 2018
Q. I bought a dining room set where the gold accent (large amount) was told to me to be 24k gold
I know the chairs are made of steel with nickel coating followed by the gold and then 4 coats of lacquer.
My question is with the supposed 24k gold over the nickel and steel -- will a magnet stick or will the gold prevent the magnet from sticking.
- Punta Gorda, Florida, USA
A. Hi Dee. A magnet will certainly stick. But wouldn't it have been easier to simply try one so you know how hard it sticks? :-)
What is it that you would like to do with magnets and this dining room set? If you are trying to determine whether 'supposed gold' underneath 4 coats of lacquer is actually gold, it is possible to determine that with rather exotic X-ray fluorescence instrumentation, but not with magnets or anything cheap and easy :-(
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 2018
November 26, 2019
! Years ago when computer monitors were CRT and we wanted to have speakers, we always bought speakers that had zinc shields around the magnets so they wouldn't effect the CRT and bow the electron gun behind the tube (throwing the colors off, etc.) Maybe what you should try to test is zinc of some sort? The shields around the speaker magnets were about 10 to 15 mils.
James Ramsey- West Plains, Missouri, US