Ferrites, as they are commonly used today, were developed principally as the result of research work and studies done during and since World War II.

Ferrites may be, and are, "tailor-made" within technological limits, to meet desired characteristics for electronic components. This is accomplished principally by varying the chemical composition of the materials and by making appropriate changes in processing procedures. MMG North America has developed its line of proprietary formulations. Additionally, the company has availed itself of those formulations generally available to the industry.

Ferrites derive their usefulness from a combination of two principal characteristics:

1. High magnetic permeability which concentrates and reinforces the magnetic field
2. High electrical resistivity, which limits the amount of flow of electrical current in the ferrite. This is in contrast to some metals, such as iron, which, although they possess ferromagnetic characteristics similar to ferrites, are highly conductive, permitting large amounts of current to flow in the metal core.

The flow of electrical energy in the core, known as "eddy" current, runs counter to the desired flow and is converted into heat, resulting in overheating and lowered efficiency of the component. Ferrites, because of their unique combination of the two above-described characteristics, enjoy low energy losses, are highly efficient, and function at high frequencies. From approximately 1 kHz to 1GHz. These characteristics make the manufacture of miniaturized high frequency electronic components more practical.

MMG North America manufactures ferrites that are used as materials in the construction of components for the electronics industry. A partial listing of ferrite shapes we manufacture are: unthreaded tuning cores, bobbins, coil forms with and without axial leads, rods, tubes, sleeves, beads, cup cores and cover plates for magnetic shields, balun transformer cores and toroids (magnetic rings).

Many of the components using our ferrite bodies find their application in the following products: computers, computer peripherals, low power transformers, cable TV systems, radio, television receivers, EMI/RFI filters, specialized electronic instruments, switch-mode power supplies, aerospace navigational systems, and specialized commercial and military communication systems.

Two broad categories of ferromagnetic materials are soft ferrites and hard ferrites.

The term "Soft ferrites" refers to the material being magnetically soft not physically soft. Several applications of soft ferrite are described above, and are manufactured by MMG North America.

"Hard Ferrites" or permanent magnets are also available through MMG North America but are manufactured by one of our sister companies. Permanent magnets are used in small D.C. motors and various magnetic holding devices.