Magnetic Shields Ltd

World Leaders in Design and Manufacture of Magnetic Shielding

Magnetic Shields Limited is a world leader in the manufacture of magnetic shielding technology.

The company has been a major supplier to both the industrial and research communities for over fifty years and is a specialist in producing fabricated magnetic shields from the alloy mu metal.

Mu metal is a nickel iron alloy that exhibits the characteristics of a very high permeability material and it is extremely effective at screening low frequency magnetic fields.

With the combination of our vast experience, manufacturing techniques and equipment, we can supply the optimal product for your requirement. Whether it is a mu metal shield for a cryomodule, a fibre optic gyroscope or even a Formula 1 car, we can assist you with all stages of your project from design through to installation.

All of our magnetic shields undergo a full magnetic anneal in a pure dry hydrogen atmosphere to guarantee the performance of our products, and this critical operation is conducted by experienced staff on site in our factory.

In addition to the manufacture of magnetic shielding, we can also supply mumetal and other alloys in sheet and foil forms, as well as manufacture and supply high grade mu metal toroids.

Our Products & Services

MU Room

At Magnetic Shields Ltd we have put time and research into developing a solution to the problems outlined, in the form of a free standing magnetically shielded room, or MuRoom®. The MuRoom® is a free standing magnetically shielded room, which can be developed to cater to many different requirements such as workable volume, desired shielding factor, and different access points. The MuRoom® is made in a similar fashion to the MuMetal® cladding solutions, by using MuMetal® panels. However these are joined together and supported using an aluminium frame. With the MuRoom® we also gain the advantage of portability, something that is clearly unachievable if cladding an existing room. As we can see it is far more cost efficient to use a portable self-standing MuRoom® than to clad on a room by room basis.

MU Chamber

A Zero Gauss Chamber, or MuChamber, is a magnetic shield with an incredibly high field attenuation. Often the internal attenuated field is only thousandths the size of the external field. Zero Gauss Chambers are widely used as a reliable way to create a field free environment for experiments across numerous industries.   Zero Gauss Chambers usually comprise of three or more stacked and isolated cylindrical shields and are highly customisable.

CryoShield | Cryogenic Magnetic Shielding

There are many considerations to make when designing the perfect shield, one of which is the thermal environment in which the shield will be used. Some applications of magnetic shielding may take place at temperatures below −180 °C or −292.00 °F or 93.15 K. The magnetic permeability of  a material has a temperature dependence, meaning that there is an optimal temperature range in which the permeability peaks.

The permeability of MuMetal® begins to drop below -40 °C, making this material unsuitable in low temperature applications. In these cases, we suggest an alternative cryogenic alloy to manufacture such shields, CRYOPHY®. CRYOPHY® is nickel-iron soft magnetic alloy (81% Ni, 5% Mo, and balance Fe) suitable for constructing magnetic shields for use at cryogenic temperatures, typically down to 4K.

MuMetal Toroidal Cores | Magnetic Shields Limited

Magnetic Shields Ltd is a global leader in the production of high accuracy MuMetal® toroidal cores. These cores are widely used for highly accurate power measurement in power distribution systems, railway networks and large pieces of energy consuming industrial equipment.

Magnetic Shielding Cans | MuCan

Magnetic Shields are specialists in the manufacture and supply of MuMetal® Magnetic Shielding Cans for transformers and other sensitive electronic components.
Our extensive stock range of circular and square cornered shielding cans provide highly effective protection from magnetic interference and electromagnetic radiation.

Deep Drawn MuCans | Shielding Cans

MuCans are normally produced in MuMetal® and typically have wall thicknesses of between 0.5mm and 1mm. Deep drawn products vary in size from less than 10mm round or square to approximately 75mm round or square. We have extensive deep drawing and fabricating facilities to produce both round and square cornered MuCans in quantities from one off to high volume production runs.

Scintillation and Photomultiplier (PMT) Tube | Magnetic Shielding

Photo multiplier tubes are susceptible to external magnetic field effects that can readily interfere with performance so often need highly effective shielding.  Magnetic Shields has vast experience with the technical challenges that accompany designing shielding solutions for such sensitive equipment.

MuFoil | Magnetic Shielding Foil

Magnetic Shields are a global supplier of MuMetal® Magnetic Shielding Foil. Our standard stock ranges of cold rolled, stress annealed MuMetal® foil (Grade ASTM A753 Alloy 4) are available in a variety of gauges and widths for rapid delivery worldwide. MuMetal® foil is typically used in delicate applications within the low frequency range where sensitive devices are impaired by magnetic interference. MuMetal® Foil provides very high permeability and exceptionally low coercive forces and magnetic losses.

Hydrogen Heat Treatment | Magnetic Shields Limited

Before shields are suitable for use, they must be heat treated. This process increases the magnetic shielding properties of our alloys and the process yields the best possible product. Magnetic Shields only recommend using pure dry hydrogen atmosphere furnaces in order to achieve the best magnetic properties, and our facility has seven fully controlled furnaces, capable of heat treating a range of sizes of component.

Metal Spinning | Magnetic Shields Limited

Our production facilities are complimented with both a manual metal spinning lathe and a state of the art Leifeld SC310 fully automatic metal spinning centre. With the flexibility of these two machines, we are able to offer a wide range of metal spinnings and spun parts in many different materials, such as; MuMetal®, stainless steel including 316, 304 and many other grades, specialist alloys, pure iron, aluminium, copper and niobium.

MuMetal Sheet

Magnetic Shields are a leading supplier of magnetic shielding sheets. Our standard stock range of MuMetal, Cryogenic Mumetal, 36% & 50% Ni Fe and Pure iron are available for rapid delivery worldwide, and these materials can be supplied in a wide range of sizes, gauges and quantities.

Magnet Shield Limited holds the largest stock of magnetic shielding materials in Europe. Our cold rolled, stress annealed, MuMetal sheet (Grade ASTM A753 Alloy 4) is available in a broad range of standard gauges from 5mm to 0.35mm.

In addition to MuMetal sheet, our stocks contain a vast array of MuMetal magnetic shielding foils, which are available in gauges from 0.25mm to 0.05mm, and these can be supplied by the metre in a variety of widths.

All of our products are supplied with a Certificate of Conformance and can be supplied with a Certificate of Analysis, detailing chemical and magnetic characteristics upon request.

Precision Sheet Metal | Magnetic Shields Limited

In addition to manufacturing shielding components, Magnetic Shields offers a high quality precision sheet metal service. Many of our shielding customers utilise this service for other components that they may require. Our skilled personnel are as equally at home working with mild steel, stainless steel, aluminium, brass and copper as they are with nickel based alloys.

 Magnetic Shield Design | How We Can Help

Magnetic Shields Ltd have the facilities to design and model shields to ensure they are the very best. If you are able to provide drawings for your shield, customer drawings and models can be accepted in a wide range of formats; DXF, DWG, IDW, IPT, IAM, STEP, SAT and IGES to name a few.

Our staff are widely knowledgeable in shielding applications, metallurgy and engineering techniques, and are happy to discuss any requirements the customer may have.

By consulting with one of our specialists, we will be able to consider such things as functionality, structural integrity, economic viability, test and quality requirements and any special considerations you may have.

We request that as much detail as possible is given about your shielding needs, so that, using our state of the art 3D modelling software, we can design and create the perfect shield.