Notable among the grants was a $2.25 million grant to GE Global Research, of Niskayuna, NY, for a project titled ‘Transformational Nanostructured Permanent Magnets”.

According to the write up from the DoE, GE will

“develop next-generation permanent magnets that include lower content of critical rare-earth materials. GE will develop bulk nanostructured magnetic materials, resulting in a dramatic increase in performance over state-of-the-art magnets. The impact of these new magnets will be to increase the efficiency and power density of electric machines while reducing dependence on globally critical rare-earth minerals.”

GE claims that the production of such magnets will lead to growth in the hybrid vehicle and wind turbine generator markets. It is no secret that GE is involved in the latter industry, having recently acquired a business unit that produces permanent-magnet-based, direct-drive wind turbines.

According to GE’s project proposal, their project will focus on a goal of obtaining new magnet materials with a maximum energy product of at least 80 MGOe and with an 80% reduction in rare earth content. To achieve this aim, the research will focus on the development of nanostructured magnet materials, in order to “demonstrate for the first time a bulk exchange?spring nanocomposite permanent magnet”.

The maximum energy product of a magnetic material is a figure of merit used to compare the performance of one magnetic material to another. Currently, the highest such value for a commercially available permanent magnet hovers at around 55-57 MGOe, for magnets based on alloys of Nd-Fe-B. The maximum theoretical energy product for Nd-Fe-B magnet materials is 64 MGOe and so the GE research project, if successful, would be a real breakthrough. So-called exchange-spring magnets rely on finely tuned microstructures that contain special nano-sized grain mixtures of materials such as Nd-Fe-B and Fe.

What makes this award pretty interesting is that it is the first time in quite a while that GE has been publicly associated with research into permanent magnet materials. There is no mention in the news release from the DoE of any collaborating entities on the project, which raises the question of just how GE will staff and execute the project, in order to move the state of the art along, without formally collaborating with leading academic and research groups on the field.

This announcement follows on from the award earlier this year by ARPA-E, of $4.5 million to a consortium led by the University of Delaware, for a project titled, “High Energy Permanent Magnets for Hybrid Vehicles and Alternative Energy“. In addition to the similar goal of successfully producing nano-composite-based permanent magnets, the Delaware project will also look at completely new magnetic material compositions.

Apparently unlike the GE project, Delaware will be collaborating with a number of other groups including those at the University of Nebraska, Ames Lab / Iowa State University, Northeastern University, Virginia Commonwealth University and Electron Energy Corporation.

It could have gone either way; but what did happen next, is in my mind a fascinating case study on the value of scientific collaboration in the absence of a profit motive, combined with a remarkable leap of faith, to successfully overcome political, geographic, cultural and scientific challenges.

Late in 1984, the Concerted European Action on Magnets [CEAM] was born at a meeting in Brussels, the result of a unique coming together of the leaders of five European academic laboratories. This was a time before the fall of the Berlin Wall, before the Single European Act and before the European Union. It was a time when the bureaucrats of Europe were trying to find ways to help member countries work more closely together, as part of efforts to reduce mistrust and to achieve the objective of a more integrated pan-European economic system. This is a system that today most Europeans simply take for granted, but at the time, it was far from clear as to whether or not it would, or could, be achieved.

By the end of its remarkable eight year run, CEAM eventually produced over 1,000 research papers and well over a dozen patents as a result of the research of over 150 scientists, engineers and product designers, from 93 participating laboratories in 13 countries. Crucially, CEAM produced enduring relationships and collaborative efforts among key research groups within Europe, who to this day continue to work together in areas of magnetics research. Just as important, CEAM enabled the creation of a new generation of research scientists and engineers, whose Ph.D. studentships and activities were made possible in whole or in part by CEAM.

I put it to you that the CEAM approach is potentially an effective model for the creation of a framework for reviving rare earths research and development, and the subsequent “incubation” of new technical talent for this sector, in the USA, Canada, Europe and beyond. It is imperative that the Western rare earths supply chain [such as it exists today] realizes that its constituent members are part of a single international “ecosystem”, and that the most effective way to challenge the People’s Republic of China in this area, is to work together within a framework NOT motivated strictly by profit or limited by national borders.

To learn more about CEAM, why it was so successful, and the six steps that could be taken to apply the CEAM model to the revival of rare earths research and development in the West, you can download a copy of my new paper on the subject: “The Concerted European Action on Magnets: A Model for Facing the Rare Earths Challenge?” in PDF format.

Take a read, and let me know what you think by adding comments below.

The research was conducted at IBM’S Zurich Research Labs in Switzerland, in conjunction with Fujifilm. What’s interesting is that just as hard disk drive media has gone from longitudinal recording, where the data bits are stored lengthwise, to perpendicular, where the bits are stored perpendicular to the surface – the same concept has been applied here to magnetic tape. The result in both cases is a significant increase in areal density of storage. Thinner tape can also be used with this technique, which means more tape can be stored on a spool. the particles used are made from barium ferrite – more commonly seen in everyday ceramic ferrite magnets.

However, the new tape technology created a problem:

Increasing the density of data that can be stored on a tape makes it more difficult to reliably read information. This is already a problem because of electromagnetic interference and because the heads themselves will retain a certain amount of residual magnetism from readings. To overcome this, the IBM group developed new signal processing algorithms that simultaneously process data and predict the effect that electromagnetic noise will have on subsequent readings.

Since tape backups are still a mainstay of any self-respecting IT department these days, this new development will hopefully make their lives easier. And let’s face it – if your IT department is happy – YOU’RE happy, and vice-versa, if you know what I mean….

The folks at IBM say that it might be as long as five years before the tape material is ready for prime time, but even so, this new development may well extend the lifespan of this data storage technology for many years to come.

A team of researchers at Purdue University, led by Professor Babek Ziaie placed a mixture of mineral oil and iron oxide nano-particle onto some ordinary paper. Once impregnated, the thin “scaffold” could be manipulated by using an external magnetic field.

Depending on the properties of the iron oxide particles used, which are around 10 nm in diameter, this “ferropaper” as they’re calling it, could be a cheap way of making soft magnetic laminations for motors and other applications.

The article talks about other applications such as “small stereo speakers, miniature robots or motors for a variety of potential applications, including tweezers to manipulate cells and flexible fingers for minimally invasive surgery.” Although this ferropaper reacts to magnetic fields, this is not the same as being a permanent magnet, so it remains to be seen just how complex one might be able to get, with relevant applications.

Still, the technique might lead to some cheap and easy fabrication techniques for a variety of applications that could make use of such a material.

From R & D magazine:

The researchers fashioned the material into a small cantilever, a structure resembling a diving board that can be moved or caused to vibrate by applying a magnetic field.

“Cantilever actuators are very common, but usually they are made from silicon, which is expensive and requires special cleanroom facilities to manufacture,” Ziaie said. “So using the ferropaper could be a very inexpensive, simple alternative. This is like 100 times cheaper than the silicon devices now available.”

The researchers also have experimented with other shapes and structures resembling [o]rigami to study more complicated movements.

Magnetic origami – sounds pretty cool to me!

Over the past few days, Australia’s ABC Radio National broadcast not one, but two items on rare earth metals, to both of which I heartily recommend listening.

The first item was broadcast on the Breakfast program on Friday, and lasts a little over 6 minutes.  It’s an introductory piece on the subject, but spends significant time discussing the environmental issues surrounding rare earth production in Australia. You can listen to the piece on the program’s Rare Earths Metals segment Web page or by clicking below:

ABC Radio National Breakfast: Rare Earth Metals

The second piece, first broadcast on the Background Briefing program this past Sunday morning, lasts for over 45 minutes and is an comprehensive, in-depth study of the rare earth metals, their markets and associated supply chain, environmental and political issues.There is also a pretty decent-sized portion on rare earth permanent magnets and their applications, for which, in the interests of full disclosure, I was interviewed :-)

As producer and narrator Stan Correy says:

China currently produces about 95% of the world’s rare earths, which are metals which are essential to modern living and used all around us every day. In business it’s a volatile mix, with complex political alchemy for every government, including Australia.

The program features several interviews of a variety of individuals from a number of different sectors, in addition to yours truly.

You can listen to the piece on the Background Briefing Rare Earths and China program Web page or by clicking below:

ABC Radio National Background Briefing: Rare Earths and China

Stan did a great job in explaining what can be a difficult subject to convey.  He also included a link back to Terra Magnetica – so thanks, Stan, for that!

There are still opportunities to host a Round Table Discussion during the meeting, and if this is of interest you should get in touch with Heather Krier via heatherk@infowebcom.com or call her at +1-720-528-3770 x 129.

More important, Heather also tells me that there is a discount registration deadline coming up next week. If you register for the conference by November 19, 2009, you can save $300 off the regular registration price. For one person the discounted cost would be $695, for two from the same company $595 and for three or more $495.

I know that a number of readers will be attending and presenting at Magnetics 2010 – we look forward to seeing you there!

Oct. 27, 2009 – by Tracey Bryant – The University of Delaware has won a $4.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) to lead a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research project to develop the next generation of high-performance permanent magnets.

Stronger magnets are essential for increasing the energy efficiency of electronics, automobiles, information technology, and communications systems in the 21st-century, and for supporting the development of hybrid/electric vehicles, wind turbines, environmentally friendly transportation systems, and new energy storage systems, among other applications.

The UD project is one of 37 selected nationwide by the agency, collectively totaling $151 million, which “have great potential to revolutionize the U.S. energy sector,” according to Shane Kosinski, ARPA-E’s acting deputy director. They represent the first round of projects funded under ARPA-E, which is receiving $400 million to deploy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

George Hadjipanayis, the Richard B. Murray Professor of Physics and chairperson of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware, is the principal investigator on the project. He will coordinate a team of chemists, material scientists, physicists, and engineers from the University of Delaware, University of Nebraska, Northeastern University, and Virginia Commonwealth University; the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa; and the Electron Energy Corporation in Landisville, Pa.

According to Hadjipanayis, the strongest permanent magnets today are made from an alloy of three elements: neodymium (Nd), iron (Fe), and boron (B). Hadjipanayis was one of the three researchers who discovered the Nd-Fe-B magnets in the early 1980s.

In the new project, he and his team will be working to identify new materials that will result in magnets twice as strong as those currently in existence.

“This is the first time that such a large concerted effort will be undertaken in the U.S. on the development of high-energy magnets that involves the best expertise available in our country on this type of materials,” Hadjipanayis said.

An article in the Sept. 11, 2009, edition of the journal Science reported that the demand for Nd-Fe-B magnets is growing at about 15 percent per year, for use in products ranging from magnetic resonance imaging machines, to cell phones, headphones, and even prototype magnetic refrigerators. Yet neodymium (Nd), which is a member of the rare earth metals on the periodic table of the elements, is growing increasingly scarce.

The UD-led team will explore three different routes over the three-year project, Hadjipanayis said. The first route will be to discover new materials in tertiary rare earth-transition metal-element X systems that have not yet been explored due to synthesis difficulties such as vapor pressure, high reactivity, toxicity, or their refractory nature. The second route will be to develop materials that are free of rare earth metals and stabilized by the addition of small non-magnetic atoms (Fe-Co-X); and the third route will be to use the bottom-up approach to develop high-energy nanocomposite materials consisting of a uniform and nanoscale mixture of high anisotropy hard (Nd-Fe-B) and high magnetization soft (Fe) magnetic phases.

“We hope our efforts will provide the fundamental innovations and breakthroughs which could have a major impact in re-establishing the United States as a leader in the science, technology, and commercialization of this very important class of materials,” Hadjipanayis said.

More than 3,600 concept papers were received in response to the first ARPA-E solicitation, from which the U.S. Department of Energy requested 300 full applications and ultimately selected 37 based on rigorous review and evaluation.

Funding for the projects is provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the federal stimulus package, which was enacted by Congress earlier this year.

Jack asks the questions: “why are the components being made in China? Can we do anything to cause them to be made in the USA?“.  He goes on to discuss the opacity of Chinese rare earth mining companies in terms of true cost structures, and how virtual all rare earth permanent magnets used in large scale wind turbines, probably originated in China.

Jack goes on to say:

These are the current consequences of the non-production of any but trivial amounts of the rare earths outside of China, combined with the economic thinking of America’s business and government elites; the former want to maximize profit at any cost, the latter want revenue from the taxes on those profits.

The rest of Jack’s article talks about the issues of investing in hard rock mining, and rare earth mining in particular, in order to exploit the significant natural resources available to us in the USA and Canada. he says that:

Chinese and Japanese companies are now looking at these North American resources for the benefits of the economies of their home countries. They can only do this so long as North America does not any longer have a domestic supply chain to refine, produce metals and alloys, produce components, and assemble those components into end use products.

The article is a good primer on the present problems facing this industry, and how they could impact rare earth permanent magnet supply in the future. You can read Jack’s article here.

]]> http://www.terramagnetica.com/2009/11/12/the-problems-of-sourcing-wind-turbines-and-rare-earth-metals-from-china/feed/ 0 http://www.terramagnetica.com/2009/11/12/magnet-fridge-to-be-future-cooler/ http://www.terramagnetica.com/2009/11/12/magnet-fridge-to-be-future-cooler/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:31:35 +0000 Gareth Hatch http://www.terramagnetica.com/?p=755 UK Press Association – A “highly innovative” fridge which will use magnets to cool food is being developed as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to current technology, the Carbon Trust has said.

The trust, along with white goods manufacturer Whirlpool, is backing the project to develop a domestic refrigerator based on the scientific principle that certain materials exhibit a temperature change when exposed to a magnetic field.

When the magnetic field is removed, the materials will cool below their original temperature – a phenomenon which it is hoped can be used to create a fridge that is more energy efficient and does away with the need for environmentally harmful gases.

Lab testing of the technology has proved successful and the project is now moving to a real-scale level to prove it can be used on a commercial basis, with a prototype planned for display during the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Compared to current fridges which use compressors, the technology, which is being developed by British company Camfridge formed as a spin off from Cambridge University, will be more efficient, less noisy and not use environmentally-harmful gases.

Bracken Darrell, president of Whirlpool Europe, said: “We are still in an exploratory phase but this technology looks very promising and we are looking forward to offering millions of consumers worldwide this major, unprecedented revolution in their own kitchen.”

Robert Trezona, head of research and development at the Carbon Trust, which was set up by the Government in 2001 to drive the move to a low-carbon economy, said Camfridge’s highly innovative scheme could create products which save carbon.

“The products that Camfridge is working with us to develop could be truly game-changing with significant global potential and are capable of replacing conventional refrigeration systems in air conditioning, industrial processes and domestic applications.

“We are going through a clean-tech revolution and it is companies like Camfridge that will reap the benefits.”

Copyright © 2009 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Held every two years, the Workshop was inaugurated in 1974 by Karl Strnat, in Dayton, Ohio, and has been a success ever since. I have no hesitation in saying that, in my opinion, it is the most important technical / scientific meeting on the calendar for anyone involved in the science, engineering, procurement and production of rare earth permanent magnets.  It’s always a great mix of formal and informal sessions and activities, and there is a unique, friendly atmosphere that I’ve not encountered at many such meetings.

In the Call for Abstracts, Professor Spomenka Kobe, Workshop Chair, and Dr. Boris Saje, Workshop Co-Chair, said:

In order that we can begin to schedule talks and posters, we would like to invite you to submit one-page abstracts describing your latest research findings. These abstracts should be sent as an e-mail attachment to REPM10@ijs.si, no later than Monday, 1 February 2010, indicating a preference for oral or poster presentation.

The Organizing Committee is interested in abstracts covering any area of rare earth permanent magnets, but they are particularly interested to receive suggestions for presentation on:

• Markets & Raw Materials: Current Status and Future Trends
• Processing Techniques
• Thin-film Magnets
• Magnet Applications
• High-Temperature Magnets
• Nanocrystalline / Nanocomposite and Bulk Amorphous Magnets
• Magnetic Modelling
• Recent Advances in Structural Analysis Techniques
• Progress Towards Textured Nanocomposites
• Coercivity and Intrinsic Physical Properties
• MAGMAS Materials and Devices
• Non-Rare-Earth PMs (excluding oxides)
• RE-TM with other properties, for example, magnetostriction, magnetocalorics, magnetic shape memory
• Magnetism and Nanotechnology

Once the abstracts have been accepted, the deadline for the submission of papers will be Monday, May 3, 2010. This deadline will be strictly enforced, because one of the nice traditions of the Workshop series is that the Proceedings of the meeting are available to attendees when they arrive at the meeting.  Having been involved in the organization of the Birmingham REPM Workshop in 1994, I can tell you that it is no mean feat putting these Proceedings together in such a short period of time – dealing with that many academics and other “busy” people is akin to the herding of a large quantity of particularly independent cats!

The organizers will send out further information on the submission of papers and logistical details with acceptance notifications for the abstracts on Friday, February 26, 2010.

The REPM10 Call for Abstracts goes on to say:

Workshop attendees who submit a paper will be required to pay their reduced-rate Workshop registration fee of €620 (€300 for students) by [Monday, May 3, 2010]. For those people who register later the regular rate will be €750 (€400). Registration fee for accompanying persons will be only €150.

The Workshop fee includes registration for the scientific sessions, a copy of the Workshop Proceedings, a welcome reception on [Sunday, August 29, 2010], a lunch and coffee breaks during each day of the Workshop, the Workshop Dinner, as well as evening activities.

You can get further details from the Workshop webpage at http://nano.ijs.si/repm10.htm – see you there!