Chapter 20 Conducting and Magnetic Material 21.

1CONDUCTING MATERIALS The material which are used to carry movable electric charges, are known as conducting materials.Conducting materials which must be good conductors of electricity, characterized by a large electrical conductivity and a small electrical resistance serve to carry current in electrical equipment, e.g., as the wires in cables and insulated conductors, as the bare conductors strung on overhead transmission lines, as the windings in electric machines and apparatus, the bus-bars in switchgear, the prongs in plugs, the blades in knife switches, the sockets in receptacles, the plates in capacitors and so on. 21.1.1 Electric Conductor : A conductor is a material which contains movable electric charges. 21.1.2 Types of Conductor : (1) Semiconductor (2) Super conductor (3) Insulators 21.1.2.1 Semiconductors : Semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow (as opposed to ionic conductivity) intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. Semiconductor Materials There are many semiconductor materials such as germanium, silicon, grey crystalline tin, selenium, tellurium, boron, etc. available but germanium (Ge) and silicon (Si) are the two most frequently used semiconductor materials in electronics. Both elements have the same crystal structure and similar characteristics. Properties of Semiconductor : Common semiconducting materials are crystalline solids, but amorphous and liquid semiconductors are known. Organic semiconductors, that is, organic materials with properties resembling conventional semiconductors, are also known. The electronic properties and the conductivity of a semiconductor can be changed in a controlled manner by adding very small quantities of other elements, called dopants, to the intrinsic material. In crystalline silicon typically this is achieved by adding impurities of boron or

phosphorus to the melt and then allowing the melt to solidify into the crystal. This process is called "doping". Uses of Semi conductores : Semiconductor materials are the foundation of modern electronics, including radio, computers, telephones, and many other devices. Also,semiconductor solar photovoltaic panels directly convert light energy into electrical energy. Silicon is also used to create most semiconductors commercially. 21.1.2.2 Super Conductor: Superconductivity is an electrical resistance of exactly zero which occurs in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. An electric current flowing in a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source. Elementary properties of superconductors Most of the physical properties of superconductors vary from material to material, such as the heat capacity and the critical temperature, critical field, and critical current density at which superconductivity is destroyed. On the other hand, there is a class of properties that are independent of the underlying material. For instance, all superconductors have exactly zero resistivity to low applied currents when there is no magnetic field present or if the applied field does not exceed a critical value. The existence of these "universal" properties implies that superconductivity is a thermodynamic phase, and thus possesses certain distinguishing properties which are largely independent of microscopic details. Uses of super conductor Superconducting magnets are some of the most powerful electromagnets known. They are used in MRI and NMR machines, mass spectrometers, and the beam-steering magnets used in particle accelerators. They can also be used for magnetic separation, where weakly magnetic particles are extracted from a background of less or non-magnetic particles, as in the pigment industries. 21.1.2.3 Insulators Insulators are materials that have just the opposite effect on the flow of electrons. They do not let electrons flow very easily from one atom to another. Insulators are materials whose atoms have tightly bound electrons. These electrons are not free to roam around and be shared by neighboring atoms.

Insulating Materials : Some common insulator materials are glass, plastic, rubber, air, and wood. Uses of Insulator : Insulators are used to protect us from the dangerous effects of electricity flowing through conductors. Conductors have a very low resistance to electrical current while insulators have a very high resistance to electrical current. 21.2 Magnetic materials The term magnet is typically reserved for objects that produce their own persistent magnetic field even in the absence of an applied magnetic field. Only certain classes of materials can do this. Most materials, however, produce a magnetic field in response to an applied magnetic field; a phenomenon known as magnetism. 21.2.1 Types of Magnetic materials : There are several types of magnetism, and all materials exhibit at least one of them. The overall magnetic behavior of a material can vary widely, depending on the structure of the material, particularly on its electron configuration. Several forms of magnetic behavior have been observed in different materials, including:
21.2.1.1

Ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials

These are the ones normally thought of as magnetic; they are attracted to a magnet strongly enough that the attraction can be felt. These materials are the only ones that can retain magnetization and become magnets; a common example is a traditional refrigerator magnet. Ferrimagnetic materials, which include ferrites and the oldest magnetic materials magnetite and lodestone, are similar to but weaker than ferromagnetics. The difference between ferro- and ferrimagnetic materials is related to their microscopic structure, as explained below. 21.2.1.2Paramagnetic Materials : These substances, such as platinum, aluminium, and oxygen, are weakly attracted to a magnet. This effect is hundreds of thousands of times weaker than the attraction of ferromagnetic materials, so it can only be detected by using sensitive instruments or using extremely strong magnets. Magnetic ferrofluids, although they are made of tiny ferromagnetic particles suspended in liquid, are sometimes considered paramagnetic since they cannot be magnetized.

21.2.1.3Diamagnetic Materials : Diamagnetic Materials means repelled by both poles. Compared to paramagnetic and ferromagnetic substances, diamagnetic substances, such as carbon, copper, water, and plastic, are even more weakly repelled by a magnet. The permeability of diamagnetic materials is less than the permeability of a vacuum. All substances not possessing one of the other types of magnetism are diamagnetic; this includes most substances. Superconductors repel magnetic fields from their interior and are strongly diamagnetic. ===========================================================