TDK Corporation announced today development of the NEOREC55 series of NdFeB sintered magnets, which boast the industry's highest energy products using existing production methods. Mass production is scheduled to begin in April 2007.

NdFeB sintered magnets have the best characteristics among numerous magnet materials, contributing to the miniaturization and higher performance of electronic devices. As a result, there are calls in the market for NdFeB sintered magnets with even better characteristics.

In the past, TDK has developed and marketed a number of different NdFeB sintered magnets as the NEOREC series. These magnets are used for numerous applications including hard disc drive (HDD) head driving voice coil motors (VCM), hybrid vehicle drive and generator motors, motors in household appliances such as air conditioners, and optical heads of DVD and CD players, and for generating magnetic fields in various types of magnetic sensors.

TDK has now developed and will soon start mass production of the NEOREC55 series, which features a maximum energy product that is 5% higher than the earlier NEOREC53 series of products and boasts the best characteristics of any mass production NdFeB sintered magnets.

TDK employs an original low-oxygen process to minimize oxidation during manufacturing process and improve saturation magnetization. Powder control technology is used to raise magnetic orientation of compressed body and to substantially improve magnetic characteristics without modification of the existing dry method used for compression process. In addition, magnetization in small magnetizing fields has been improved, facilitating adequate magnetization.

These enhanced characteristics make it possible to raise magnetic flux in VCM magnetic circuits and the resulting torque while maintaining the same configuration as earlier products. This raises head movement speeds, which results in faster HDD seek speeds. In addition, the magnetizing ratio is high even among compact optical head magnets that form complex magnetization patterns, contributing to the miniaturization of magnets.

The NEOREC55 series of high-performance magnets was created using TDK's outstanding development technologies and will contribute to new advances in electronic devices such as HDDs.

The new products will be on display at the TDK booth at Techno-Frontier 2007, which will open at the Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Halls on April 18.