{"id":6478,"date":"2011-10-13T15:25:46","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T19:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=6478"},"modified":"2011-10-13T19:01:57","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T23:01:57","slug":"contract-awarded-for-magnets-made-with-no-rare-earth-metals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=6478","title":{"rendered":"Contract Awarded for Magnets Made Without Rare Earth Metals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rare<\/a>
(U.S. Geological Service)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Virginia Commonwealth University<\/a> in Richmond has received a $2.9 million contract from Department of Energy to develop a new class of permanent magnets for energy-efficient electric car motors and generators. The project is funded through the department’s Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies<\/a> program (REACT) under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.<\/p>\n

The REACT program aims to find alternatives to rare earths, naturally-occurring minerals with magnetic properties used in many electronics and energy technologies. Rising rare earth prices have already escalated costs for some energy technologies and threatened shortages<\/a> may jeopardize the availability and widespread adoption of energy solutions by U.S. manufacturers.<\/p>\n

The three-year contract with VCU aims to use a magnetic carbide-based composite, which resembles a fine black powder, to develop a magnet in a prototype electric motor. Chemistry professor Everett Carpenter and colleagues at VCU have already developed transition metal carbide nanoscale magnets, which require no rare earth elements. (1 nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter)<\/p>\n

According to Carpenter, producing the new magnetic material uses a simplified synthesis technique, which can significantly reduce the cost of production. The cost of making a rare earth magnet such as Samarium cobalt, says Carpenter, is about $70 per pound, but the proposed chemical process to create this new magnet could lower production costs to about $1.50 per pound.<\/p>\n

“Our process is a chemical process that’s nanobased,” notes Carpenter. “The program, if successful, would result in the first commercially viable rare-earth free magnet in nearly 50 years.”<\/p>\n

The VCU team, consisting of Carpenter and physics professor Shiv Khanna, is collaborating with research teams from Northeastern University, the University of California-San Diego, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Moog Components Inc., Arnold Magnetics Technologies, and Bayer Technology Services.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n