Capacitor discharge magnetizers are designed for magnetizing of permanent magnets of any type. This includes alnico, ceramic (ferrite), samarium-cobalt, neodymium-iron-boron magnets.

A magnetizing system is composed of two major parts: the capacitor discharge magnetizer and the magnetizing fixture (or coil set).

Fig. 1 shows schematically the block diagram of a magnetizing system.

The heart of the discharge magnetizer is the capacitor bank. The total capacity, that depends on the number of capacitors and maximum charge voltage, determine the maximum energy stored in the capacitor bank and therefore the maximum peak of magnetic field that can be obtained in the magnetizing coil. The capacitor bank is charged to a preset voltage via a DC power supply and the energy stored is then discharge to the magnetizing coil through a high current SRC discharge witch. The magnetizing fixture plays a decisive role in the success of the magnetizing application. The fixture is commonly custom designed in order to meet the magnetizing specifications provided by the costumer.

Currently several companies all over the world offer a variety of capacitor discharge magnetizers for laboratory. Magnetizers are manufactured for high volume production magnetizing or for general laboratory use. The proper magnetizer model should be selected considering two main features: energy stored (in Joules) and cycling rate. Costumers should select the appropriate magnetizing system according to their requirements. Applications engineers, who normally have years of experience in the field, help costumers recommending the correct equipment for each magnetizing requirement. The requirements of a concrete magnetizing application can be numerous, complex and widely varied: what type of magnet are to be magnetized ? (the latter refers to the material), are the magnets mounted in an assembly ? (in such a case a drawing of the magnet assembly must be provided)