Scientists may have discovered a method of making the magnets used in wind turbines and electric cars without the rare earth metals that are almost exclusively made in China. A team from the University of Cambridge and colleagues from Austria have found a new way to make tetrataenite, a possible replacement for rare earth magnets, according to a research paper by the university. If the production process proves to be commercially feasible, it could loosen China’s dominance of the rare earth market, where it accounts for more than 80% of global supply.
US President Joe Biden earlier this year backed efforts to increase production of critical materials, while the European Union’s foreign service said this month that the bloc should diversify supply chains, including for rare earth metals, away from China. In 2019, the Asian nation warned it could cut exports to strike back in its trade war with Washington.
The researchers discovered that it would be possible to produce tetrataenite, an alloy of iron and nickel, on a large scale by adding the common element phosphorus. Previously, making tetrataenite — whose magnetic properties approximate those of rare-earth magnets — in the laboratory relied on impractical methods, they said.
The researchers hope to work with major magnet manufacturers to determine whether tetrataenite could be suitable for high-performance magnets. “Deposits of rare earths exist elsewhere, but mining operations are very disruptive: you have to mine a huge amount of material to get a small volume of rare earths,” said Lindsay Greer of Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, who led the research. he said in the newspaper. “Between the environmental impacts and the heavy reliance on China, there has been an urgent search for alternative materials that do not require rare earths.”
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