Magnetic materials for technical applications a)

The time evolution of the physical properties of hard and soft magnetic materials is shortly reviewed. Then, we analyse the magnetic properties of Nd 5 Fe 67 Cr 8 Nb 2 B 18 nanocomposites, Nd-Fe-Co-Al-B hard magnetic phases and magnets as well as of Nd 2 Fe 14-x M x C 0.8 B 0.2 (M=Ni, Cu and Al) alloys. Some data on soft magnetic materials are also given. Finally, the magnetocaloric properties of ternary Gd-Co-B compounds are reported.