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ASTM honours McMaster
Mixed rare earths and MIM produce ‘hotter’ magnets POWDER metallurgist Iver Anderson and colleagues, Bill McCallum and Matthew Kramer at the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) Ames Laboratory at the University of Iowa have developed a high-performance permanent magnet alloy that operates with good magnetic strength at 200°C (392°F) to help make electric drive motors more efficient and cost-effective. The mixed-rare-earth magnets can be MIM manufactured from gas atomised alloy powder. The work is part of the DoE’s Vehicle Technologies Program to develop more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly highway transportation technologies. Dr Anderson explained that future ultragreen vehicles include fully electric cars, fuel-cell automobiles and plug-in
hybrids. “They all have electric drive motors, so that’s a common theme,” he said. “It’s important that those motors be made economically with an operating envelope that fits how they will be driven. The automotive companies in this country have set out a series of parameters that they would like electric motors to meet.” One of those constraints the group is addressing is the need for permanentmagnet electric motors to operate well at temperatures up to 200°C. “That raised a lot of eyebrows for people who know anything about magnets,” said Anderson. The most desirable permanent-magnet materials are currently neodymium-iron-boron magnet materials based on a 2-14-1 crystal structure – Nd2Fe14B.
ASTM honours McMaster
Advanced materials booming in China
ASTM International Committee B10 on Reactive and Refractory Metals and Alloys has honoured James A McMaster, a consultant with MC Consulting in Huletts Landing, New York, with the H R “Russ” Ogden Award. McMaster was cited for his outstanding accomplishments in the science and technology of reactive and refractory metals and alloys. His work focuses on titanium metal technical applications, specifications and standards, technology, welding and manufacturing, and market development.
CHINA’S advanced metals and alloys sector is estimated to have been worth $11.3 billion in 2007. By 2012 it is expected to reach $26.8 billion. In terms of value, aluminum alloys and rare earth magnets (NdFeB) have been the top two segments in China’s advanced metals and alloys industry,
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MPR February 2008
GKN ‘mostly good’ UK-BASED GKN reported that profits for the first 11 months of 2007 showed a solid improvement over the same period in 2006, with its Driveline, Aerospace, and Off Highway segments all ahead. Its powder metallurgy business dipped marginally below 2006 figures due to higher raw material costs in the second half of 2007 and some operational disruption stemming from restructuring.
“Most of those types of magnets tend to lose a lot of their magnetic energy at fairly modest temperatures and are operating at much less than half of their power by the time they reach 100°C to 125°C,” he said. “So our challenge was to design a high-performance 2-14-1 permanent magnet alloy that would operate with good magnetic strength at 200°C.” To meet that challenge, the researchers designed an alloy that replaces pure neodymium with a mixed rare earth. “We used a combination of neodymium, yttrium and dysprosium because they all form 2-14-1 crystal structures,” said Anderson. “Together they have much less degradation of their magnetic properties with temperature due to the influence of the yttrium and dysprosium.”
accounting for more than 80% of the value of China’s advanced metals and alloys market in 2006, according to research published by BCC. The consumption of energy materials in China in 2006 saw a soaring growth of 116.8% over 2005, reaching $1.1 billion. This astonishing expansion was due to the substantial leap of solar cell production and the soaring price of imported multicrystalline silicon in 2006 in China. In the next five years, domestic planned multicrystalline silicon projects will be put into operation, and the price of multicrystalline silicon will stabilise. The overall energy materials segment is currently worth $1.8 billion and is expected to be worth $2.9 billion in 2012, a compound annual growth rate of 10.1%.
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hybrids. “They all have electric drive motors, so that’s a common theme,” he said. “It’s important that those motors be made economically with an operating envelope that fits how they will be driven. The automotive companies in this country have set out a series of parameters that they would like electric motors to meet.” One of those constraints the group is addressing is the need for permanentmagnet electric motors to operate well at temperatures up to 200°C. “That raised a lot of eyebrows for people who know anything about magnets,” said Anderson. The most desirable permanent-magnet materials are currently neodymium-iron-boron magnet materials based on a 2-14-1 crystal structure – Nd2Fe14B.
ASTM honours McMaster
Advanced materials booming in China
ASTM International Committee B10 on Reactive and Refractory Metals and Alloys has honoured James A McMaster, a consultant with MC Consulting in Huletts Landing, New York, with the H R “Russ” Ogden Award. McMaster was cited for his outstanding accomplishments in the science and technology of reactive and refractory metals and alloys. His work focuses on titanium metal technical applications, specifications and standards, technology, welding and manufacturing, and market development.
CHINA’S advanced metals and alloys sector is estimated to have been worth $11.3 billion in 2007. By 2012 it is expected to reach $26.8 billion. In terms of value, aluminum alloys and rare earth magnets (NdFeB) have been the top two segments in China’s advanced metals and alloys industry,
6
MPR February 2008
GKN ‘mostly good’ UK-BASED GKN reported that profits for the first 11 months of 2007 showed a solid improvement over the same period in 2006, with its Driveline, Aerospace, and Off Highway segments all ahead. Its powder metallurgy business dipped marginally below 2006 figures due to higher raw material costs in the second half of 2007 and some operational disruption stemming from restructuring.
“Most of those types of magnets tend to lose a lot of their magnetic energy at fairly modest temperatures and are operating at much less than half of their power by the time they reach 100°C to 125°C,” he said. “So our challenge was to design a high-performance 2-14-1 permanent magnet alloy that would operate with good magnetic strength at 200°C.” To meet that challenge, the researchers designed an alloy that replaces pure neodymium with a mixed rare earth. “We used a combination of neodymium, yttrium and dysprosium because they all form 2-14-1 crystal structures,” said Anderson. “Together they have much less degradation of their magnetic properties with temperature due to the influence of the yttrium and dysprosium.”
accounting for more than 80% of the value of China’s advanced metals and alloys market in 2006, according to research published by BCC. The consumption of energy materials in China in 2006 saw a soaring growth of 116.8% over 2005, reaching $1.1 billion. This astonishing expansion was due to the substantial leap of solar cell production and the soaring price of imported multicrystalline silicon in 2006 in China. In the next five years, domestic planned multicrystalline silicon projects will be put into operation, and the price of multicrystalline silicon will stabilise. The overall energy materials segment is currently worth $1.8 billion and is expected to be worth $2.9 billion in 2012, a compound annual growth rate of 10.1%.
metal-powder.net