Control of nonmagnetic particles using a magnetic field.

A force and/or torque are induced in a material under the imposition of a magnetic field. Their magnitudes are different from those acting on the surrounding materials because of the difference in their physical properties. Therefore, a magnetic field is a powerful tool for controlling a second phase in a mother phase such as particles suspended in a liquid. In this paper, we focus on two processes. The first one is a novel method of magnetic filtration in which schwertmannite particles in wastewater are controlled using a magnetic field. The second one is a refining process for a metallic alloy structure during solidification in which solid particles suspended in the liquid phase are controlled using the force excited by the simultaneous imposition of a magnetic field and alternating current.