Developing greener, cheaper magnets"Ames Laboratory scientists have come up with a new process to prepare neodymium-iron-boron (Nd2Fe14B) permanent magnets that has the potential to enable them to be produced economically here in the United States. What’s more, the Ames Laboratory process doesn’t produce the environmentally unfriendly byproducts that result from traditional manufacturing methods.
“It is a one-step process going from the neodymium oxide to the neodymium master alloy,” Gschneidner explains, “and since the end-products are completely utilized, there are no waste materials to dispose of.”
A green process with the potential to bring a greater share of the$4.1 billion permanent magnet industry back to U.S. shores represents a major achievement in itself.
But the greatest long-term benefit of the Ames Lab process may be yet to come. Gschneidner believes that “A modification of this process should enable us to prepare a lanthanum master alloy to produce lanthanum nickel metal hydride batteries, which are used in hybrid and electrical vehicles.”
Source:
https://is.gd/hVOBw
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My take:
While is a very interesting development, what the article did not detail is the actual
economics of how much cheaper this new 'one-step' process could be.