It's an international battle over magnets.
To some extent, magnets are almost the basic material of the modern science and technology industry. Magnets are indispensable components in industrial equipment such as smartphones, computers, refrigerators, air conditioners, automobiles, generators and transformers. It's cheap and abundant, as simple and cheap as the little black blobs we see in high school physics LABS. However, the desire for new technology inspired the renewal and iteration of the magnet, thus starting a global war.
The road to rise
Ferrite magnets, or the black dots we see most often, are the most common and earliest magnetic materials used by humans, and the compass is where this material came into play. After Faraday discovered the effect of electromagnetic induction, the magnet became the protagonist of the electric age. In the image of electromagnetic theory, the magnetic field of a magnet is like a stage on which the roles of electrical and mechanical energy are reversed, making it possible to generate electricity and to drive machinery electrically. The two connected a series of industries that laid the foundation for the electrification revolution that continues today. As a result, modern industry has been able to create thousands of categories of technology and build complex and diverse economic systems, from electricity generation, lights and household appliances to automobiles and airplanes. And the great economic prosperity, in turn, formed a strong demand for magnets, driving the consumption of magnets every year to record a high.
But one big drawback of traditional ferrite magnets is that they have a very low density of magnetic energy and often require a fairly large size to get enough magnetic field, like the bulky cores we see in motors and transformers. This size limitation has undoubtedly slowed down the progress of electronic products towards the goal of thinner and more portable, and made traditional ferromagnetic increasingly powerless. Therefore, the search for new magnets with higher magnetic energy density has become the common expectation of the industry. The so-called sincerity, is in the consumer electronics to enter thousands of households, the breakthrough of magnet technology so timely. The unique magnetic potential of rare earth elements was quickly discovered, opening the door to the study of new magnets.Rare earth is a historical name that includes the 15 lanthanide elements, which are separated into separate regions on the periodic table, and the 17 elements scandium and yttrium combined. Because it could not have existed alone, it was discovered so late that it was mistaken for low levels. But in fact, many of the elements are not low in reserves, but they are so scattered that there are very few valuable mines. Like vitamins in the human body, rare earth elements play an important role in new material science and technology because they can greatly improve various properties when added to conventional materials.Samarium cobalt magnets, invented in the 1960s, were the first generation of powerful magnets to use rare earth samarium elements, but the real star was NdFeb, which emerged in the 1970s. Known as the king of magnetism, its magnetic field is the size of a fingernail and thousands of times stronger than the Earth's. That is, it takes a small amount of matter to get a large enough magnetic field. So with NdFeb, we see the iphone as it is now.
The magnetic index of NdFeb - whether it is magnetic energy product, coercivity or remanent magnetic induction strength, is to beat ferrite. The only disadvantage is that the high temperature resistance is poor, the temperature over 100℃ will lose magnetism. However, it was soon discovered that by replacing a small fraction of neodymium in the composition with a few percent, you could get a product with satisfactory thermal stability by replacing it with the heavier dysprosium.
The result is a near-perfect magnet that combines lightness with performance. It has gained a huge market not only in electronics but also in new energy sources such as wind turbines and electric cars, and can be found everywhere where the minimum volume is needed to obtain the maximum magnetic field. In any case, NdFEB has long been expected to achieve the characteristics of the ideal magnet. The perfect performance was not so much the result of the researchers' efforts as a miracle that happened at the right time. It's an interesting and meaningful invention story in the history of modern technology. But of course nothing in the world is perfect, ndFeb is no exception. Neodymium and doped dysprosium, the most important raw materials, inevitably become the focus of rare earth competition in the world because of their status as rare earth elements, bringing disturbance to the entire magnet industry far beyond the commercial field.
