Electron Energy Corporation

ULTRA-HIGH TEMPERATURE SAMARIUM COBALT MAGNETS

In 1995, the United States Air Force in conjunction with other branches of the US Department of Defense required magnets that operated at temperatures greater than 400°C. In response to this need, Electron Energy Corporation developed a new class of Sm2Co17 magnets that offer the key performance and stability features of SmCo magnets for use at temperatures up to 550°C. These new magnets were called Ultra-High Temperature Samarium Cobalt (UHT SmCo).

SUCCESS IN MISSION-CRITICAL APPLICATIONS

When NASA launched Deep Space 1—the first in a series of deep-space and Earth-orbiting missions conducted under the New Millennium Program—EEC’s UHT SmCo magnets were used. These magnets were a key component in the spacecraft’s ion propulsion engines manufactured by Hughes Electron Dynamics. In an extremely successful extended mission, Deep Space 1 encountered the comet Borrelly and returned major scientific data as well the best comet photographs ever taken at the time.