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How to Store Neodymium Magnets?

Posted on July 10, 2017

Neodymium magnets have special properties and require specific storage environment to avoid losing their magnetic strength, being irreversibly damaged or cause hazards to their surroundings.  When selecting a storage for your magnet material, take the followings into consideration:

Humidity: Neodymium magnets are prone to corrosion in moist environment due to their iron contents. Pick a dry, isolated or well-sealed area in your warehouse or workspace.

Temperature: Elevated temperature can make the atoms poles of magnets randomize and resulting in permanent damage to their magnetic nature. They should not be placed near any heat sources. Stable room temperature (~70oF) would be ideal. Never store or use magnets above their Curie temperature (590°F for Neodymium magnets) to avoid demagnetization.

Other Magnets: Stronger magnets and electromagnetic fields can destroy weaker ones. Make sure you’re aware of your design and storage surroundings and keep the area clear of more powerful magnets. It is also best to keep their poles aligned in the same direction, or else they will push each other away. Magnets with different alloy compositions should also be separately stored due to demagnetizing effects.

Powerful Attraction: Since Neodymium magnets are so strong, it can easily “pull” any ferrous parts in the close proximity or small particles in the surrounding and accumulate debris on the storage containers. They should be kept in closed and well-insulated boxes. To test if the boxes are isolated well enough, simply place a ferromagnetic metal on the outside the storage box and verify if there’s any noticeable attractive force.

Safety: Magnets may be cool and fun for kids, but they are not toys and must be supervised by adults when used by children. They can be choking hazard when swallowed, or have sharp cutting edges if they break into pieces. When storing magnets, keep them out of reach from kids and pets or locked if necessary.

Space: Neodymium magnets are fragile and their edges can be easily chipped when stroked by other hard objects or other magnets. When placing magnets in the storage box, always make sure they are tightly snuggled with padding (paper, Styrofoam, bubble wraps etc.) in all around, with no room for the magnets to move around. For large sized magnets, always place thick spacer in between every two magnets for stress-free separation.

Impact or Mechanical Shock: For the same reason as above, never apply force on Neodymium magnets and store them separately from other rigid objects as slight collisions can chip or crack them.

Surrounding Electronics: Never store the magnet material close to electronics, especially the sensitive ones. Electronics can be permanently destroyed in the presences of strong magnetic field. You may want to remove them completely before handling magnets.

It is important to keep these factors in when storing your magnets for good long lasting shelf-time and the safety of others.