Applications of rare earth permanent magnets

Abstract Trends in the main application area of rare earth permanent magnets, data storage, are presented with the focus on miniaturization. Three examples of magnet applications, a CD-lens actuator, two spindle motors and the voice coil motor of hard disk drives, are discussed in detail and a brief sketch of other application areas is given. With respect to material properties we will focus on magnetization, high temperature use, shaping and shape integrity.