Magneto-Archimedes levitation and its application

Abstract

A novel magnetic-separation method, which uses the magneto-Archimedes levitation technique, has been introduced and evaluated. Magneto-Archimedes levitation is an easy way to attain the levitation of feeble magnetic materials by ordinal superconducting magnets with the aid of the magnetically induced buoyancy force that comes from its surroundings. The stable levitation position in a magnetic field depends on the materials because it is determined by the difference in volume magnetic susceptibilities and densities between objects and surroundings. By using this feature, a novel magnetic separation technique has been successfully demonstrated. The samples levitated were NaCl-KCl grain mixtures and colored glass particles. When they were levitated with the magneto-Archimedes technique, the initial mixture underwent separation into each kind of the ingredient particle aggregates. In this study, conventional diamagnetic levitation and magneto-Archimedes levitation are compared, and the novel magnetic separation and its features are demonstrated.