Presentations

In February 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14017 on America’s Supply Chains (EO14017), directing federal agencies to identify and evaluate potential challenges and opportunities facing key supply chains and propose potential policy solutions to address them. As part of this effort, the Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership with the national laboratories, conducted evaluations of the supply chains that encompass the Energy Sector Industrial Base, with a particular focus on technologies required to decarbonize the U.S. economy by 2050. One of these reports focuses on the rare earth permanent magnet supply chain, specifically that for sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, for their prevalent use in traction motors in electric vehicle propulsion systems and direct drive synchronous generators in offshore wind turbines.

This panel session will bring together the brightest minds in the industry and dive into the challenges facing the magnet and critical materials supply chain ecosystem. Topics will include;

- DOE's strategies to improve the resilience of critical material supply chains, particularly rare earth elements and NdFeB magnets.
- DOE’s various efforts touching various aspects of the NdFeB supply chain and how these compare with efforts globally
- Strategies pursued by DOE’s Critical Materials Institute (CMI) to address supply chain issues
- Overview of past successes and current efforts being pursued by CMI in relation to magnets

Moderator: Braeton James Smith, Principal Energy Economist, Argonne National Lab

Panelists:
Helena Khazdozian, Sr. Technology Manager, US Department of Energy
Tom Lograsso, Critical Materials Institute, Director

This ‘Rare Earths for the electric-mobility panel will bring together key decision makers in the technologies of vehicle electrification, rare earths producers, magnet makers and more to review the current supply situation, identify bottlenecks and propose solutions.

Moderator: Gareth Hatch, REIA

Panelists: 
Mark Chalmers, President & CEO, Energy Fuels 
Badrinath Veluri, Chief Specialist, Materials & technology, Grundfos
Vasileios Tsianos, Dir. of Corp. Development & Assistant Corp. Secretary, Neo Performance Materials

The development and deployment of high-performance permanent magnets depend on the utilization of suitable magnetic and bonding elements in the anisotropic crystal structure. The first prerequisite is to pinpoint which atoms in the crystal provide magnetization, ferromagnetic transition temperature, and magnetic anisotropy. If these intrinsic permanent magnet properties along with the evolution of microstructure are translated to coercivity and remanence, one can then be equipped with the high-performance permanent magnet. We present here our newly discovered crystallographic site substituted high-performance hexaferrites to rare-earth cobalt to neo magnets applicable in vehicle, wind turbine, magnetic cooling, and other household technologies.

It’s been close to fifty years since the announcement of the new, revolutionary Nd-Fe-B magnet material in 1983. With an estimated global market capitalization of around 20 bn$/year, these magnets present a niche market. Especially sintered NdFeB magnets are gaining attention though, due to their growing importance in green transition.

The demand for Neo magnets in traction motors and Windmills spurred a great interest in domestic production. National security issues are a factor as well. China has been a dominant player for the past two decades that resulted in the rest of the world to shut down their magnet plants.

Rare-earth element (REE) magnets are essential in defense and clean energy applications. The demand for these magnets is expected to follow the growth of the clean energy sector (EV, wind turbines). Since more than 90% of the world's REE magnet production capacity is dominated by China, which is constrained by governmental export quotas, future supply availability is uncertain. At the same time, the magnet end- of-life, industrial scrap and swarf market in US, Europe and Japan is increasing.

Neodymium (Nd) has been the primary source for most commercial rare earth magnets. However, for years the price of Nd has fluctuated greatly and presents a great supply chain risk. However, as a rare earth material, Samarium is much more stable and can dramatically reduce procurement risks.

Magnetic circuit designers often strive to get the maximum performance while also keep an eye on the circuit efficiency. With limited resources of rare earth materials and supply chain issues, magnetic circuit designers should evaluate the relationship between maximum performance and efficient use of rare materials to help alleviate the rare earth supply issues.

Rare earth materials are essential in numerous industries including, Critical Infrastructure & Energy, Defense, EV & Automotive, Healthcare and many more. We are seeing exponential growth for the demand of rare earth and critical elements. Similar to where the steel industry was 15 years ago, the need to recycle these elements and materials is important and vital to the future of the market.

Recycling will become an increasingly integral part of the supply chain and will be driven by partners that have focused on collaboration.

Join industry experts as they discuss this demanding industry including the future and importance of the recycling industry and the challenges and barriers facing the market. Hear how the government is playing a role and the new technologies that are changing the Rare Earth Materials Recycling.

The magnetic field distributions of permanent magnets can be measured in several ways, but the right approach will elevate the production yields, reduce scrap, and increase cost-effectiveness.

New superconducting materials are constantly emerging as the entire world is pushing hard to discover, integrate and scale up superconducting magnet systems for medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. These new materials hold the promise of enabling helium-free MRI systems with potentially lower costs to manufacture and operate with increased reliability and resiliency.

The MRI research and development space is a unique field where the intersection of materials science and magnet technology are leveraged in tandem to produce a medical imaging solution that is simply unrivaled by other imaging technologies like X-rays, ultrasound and computerized tomography. Because the imaging quality and utility of MRI is the best amongst all other options, continual improvement in this field has the potential for very significant commercial disruption and economic gains in a rapidly increasing global market.

Moderator: Jeff Whalen
Panelists: Greg Boebinger, Director, MagLab
Ernesto Bosque, MagLab Scientist, Florida State University
Glenn Walter, Professor and Scientist, University of Florida, Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (AMRIS)
Scott Marshall, Senior Superconducting Magnet Systems Engineer, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

In a line production of car traction motors the magnetization of the assembled rotor is always a time critical process. Big dimensions combined with deep V-shaped configuration of the magnets inside the rotor require a very high energy of the magnetizing pulse. In consequence there is a high temperature rise after each pulse which only can be eliminated by a long re-cooling time of the magnetizing coil.

AC losses in permanent magnets are becoming an important topic as these magnets are increasingly being used in rotating machines. To guarantee their performance, not only BH curves are relevant, but also the AC loss due to ripple fields needs to be properly characterized.

AC loss is largely due to eddy currents. To characterize this surface effect, we propose a single performance indicator: the delay time for the penetration of the magnetic field. This parameter can be used to easily predict the performance of the magnet.

Niron Magnetics, Inc. is commercializing Iron Nitride, a high performance, completely rare earth free permanent magnet technology. Iron Nitride will act as an economical substitute for several grades of both sintered and bonded NdFeB magnets. Niron’s Iron Nitride technology is based on progress achieved by the University of Minnesota under work supported by the Department of Energy’s Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies ARPA-E REACT program. These magnets are based on the α”-Fe16N2 compound which has high saturation magnetization and a moderate magnetocrystalline anisotropy due to a tetragonal crystal structure. Iron Nitride is manufactured from low-cost, non-critical elemental components. The unique characteristics of Iron Nitride include a magnetic strength higher than most grades of NdFeB permanent magnets. Test data also indicates that iron nitride exhibits superior temperature stability when compared to NdFeB. Niron’s magnets are positioned to substitute for NdFeB in applications such as motors with high torque output.

Proper application of magnetic materials requires attention to several factors including benchmarking, material considerations, manufacturing methods and design optimization. Using neodymium iron boron radial rings for permanent magnet motors is established technology.

This presentation will focus on a well developed production method for those rings using patented rotating orientation technology along with the benefits of this novel approach. This presentation will review assembly, magnetization and magnetic wave form testing that allows correlation with motor testing. ​

With support from the Government of Saskatchewan,the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is constructing Canada’s first fully integrated, commercial demonstration Rare Earth Processing Facility, which is positioned to establish a rare earth element (REE) technology hub in Saskatchewan, forming an industry model for future commercial REE initiatives and supply chain development.