Terra Magnetica

This is the second in a four-part series of articles on the current scrutiny being given to rare earths by the US Congress and US Department of Defense, in the context of national security considerations.  The first part can be accessed here. The full white paper can be downloaded as a PDF file from here. [...]

This is the first in a four-part series of articles on the current scrutiny being given to rare earths by the US Congress and US Department of Defense, in the context of national security considerations.  The full white paper can be downloaded as a PDF file from here. Introduction The rare earths are a group [...]

Earlier this week I came across a rather interesting new technology from Humdinger Wind Energy, LLC. Based in Honolulu, this company claims that “from enabling smart buildings to reducing the cost of wind energy”, they are “researching & developing the world’s first non-turbine harvesting technology, the Windbelt™ generator”.  Wind power without a wind turbine?  Definitely [...]

During my trip to Europe next month, I will have the honor of giving a guest lecture at Aalborg University’s Institute of Energy Technology, in Aalborg, Denmark.  Taking place in the afternoon of October 9, 2009, the lecture is titled ‘Fundamentals of Permanent Magnets: Materials, Basic Design Considerations & Applications“. Co-hosted by the local IEEE [...]

The UK Magnetics Society will host a seminar titled “Advanced Magnetic Materials and their Applications“, in Hanau, Germany, during October 12-13, 2009.  Hanau is the home of Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co KG [a.k.a. Vac], hosts and co-sponsors of the event, and is a 30 minute drive from Frankfurt’s main airport.  This will the second event [...]

Yesterday I posted an article over at RareMetalBlog with the above subject line. The Rare-earth Information Center was established in January 1966, at the Ames Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. It was a great resource for industry, government and academia with its database of papers, reports, patents, conference proceedings, news and other information on rare earths. It [...]

Whenever I read articles in the media on neodymium-based [Nd-Fe-B] permanent magnets, I’m always interested to see how much historical detail the writer includes on the subject. The majority of writers either make no mention at all of the origins of Nd-Fe-B, or will mention only that it was developed by General Motors in the [...]

In recent days we’ve seen a flurry of activity concerning reports that the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has called for a total ban on foreign shipments of certain rare earths elements. These reports also claim that other rare earth metals including neodymium, would be restricted to a combined export quota of 35,000 [...]

Earlier today, I posted an article over at RareMetalBlog after the question of non-defense applications of rare earth permanent magnets came up. Certainly most of us are aware of the use of such materials in motors and generators, but there are hundred of other applications for such magnets – and not just in the form [...]

I have just uploaded the pre-print of a new white paper titled “Running the Gauntlet: Rare Earths, Specialty Metals and Turf Wars Within the Beltway“. I started work on this after discovering that rare earth materials feature prominently in current legislation going through the US Congress.  Posted below are the first few paragraphs of the [...]