Proliferation of rare earth magnets in computer peripherals

Rare earth cobalt permanent magnets have proliferated in a broad spectrum of applications in computer peripheral devices. This paper presents the technical reasons for such proliferation and examines as to how the future performance needs for such devices will impact the trends in rare earth cobalt material development. This paper most specifically describes the use of rare earth cobalt actuators (stepper motors, servo motors, linear voice coil and rotary voice coil actuators) in computer peripherals such as mass storages devices and numerous types of matrix line and daisy wheel printers. (Author)