Magnet Shorthand: Are Neo Magnets and NdFeB Magnets the Same?

We occasionally get inquiries and manufacturing prints identifying a custom magnet shape using the abbreviation Neo. Because shorthand works – both internally and in discussions with our customers – we likewise sometimes refer to a Neodymium magnet as Neo or NdFeB. Of the rare earth element magnets, Neo magnets are the most commonly specified because they have the highest known energy product for their mass. One might possibly expect the Neo name to mean “new” – and that could be a reasonable assumption based on the fact that they were initially created relatively recently in 1984. The abbreviated name, however, actually comes from the element Neodymium – or Nd.