Use of Neodymium Can Be Reduced by 30%
The Materials Research Institute announced that its research team led by Dr. Lee Jung-koo and Dr. Kim Tae-hoon developed a rare-earth element-reduced permanent magnet material technology with which the use of neodymium can be reduced by 30 percent or so in industrial magnets.
Neodymium is expensive and hard to obtain and yet, as of now, there is nothing to replace it in rare-earth element-based permanent magnets for industrial use. In order to reduce the content of neodymium, the content of cerium needs to be increased, which has led to a decline in magnetic properties.
The team discovered that existing rare-earth element-based permanent magnets entail unnecessary magnetic particle formation and the particles adversely affect the microstructure and magnetic properties of the magnet. Then, it aimed to suppress the dispersion of atoms in the particles, hinder the particle formation and improve the microstructure and properties as a result.
The team applied melt spinning and hot deformation for rapid cooling to precursors and final permanent magnet production, respectively. As a result, it successfully suppressed unnecessary intra-magnet magnetic particle formation and optimized the microstructure of the magnet. In addition, residual magnetization and coercive force improvements could be achieved at the same time.
The current size of the domestic market of rare-earth element-based permanent magnets for use in high-efficiency motors and the like is 186 billion won a year, and South Korea’s import dependence in the market is close to 100 percent. The country is trying to reduce the dependence with resource nationalism continuing to spread.
According to the institute, the newly developed technology, once commercialized, can be utilized in various industrial fields requiring high-efficiency motors, including electric vehicle, drone, flying car and electric ship. Details of the research were published on March 17 in Scripta Materialia.