SINGLE-GRAIN RE-ENGINEERED ND-FE-B PERMANENT MAGNETS

GREENE addresses one of the Europe’s Grand Societal Challenges, aligned with the European Green Deal and the recently released Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age, which alongside the Circular Economy Action Plan, sets the framework for the transformation of the EU’s industry. Rare-earth-element (REE) permanent magnets based on Nd–Fe–B are vital for use in electric vehicles and wind turbines, making then central to Europe’s green-energy future. These magnets have outstanding properties, but they are not without their weaknesses. There is, of course, the well-known dependence on imports from China, on which Europe is presently totally dependent. However, here, in line with the scope of the Resilient valu chains 2023 call, GREENE will focous on a redesign of Nd-Fe-B magnets as an advanced material where the Nd in the grain boundary is replaced. At the same time, we will address the problem of translating the under-used intrinsic properties of the hard-magnetic Nd2Fe14B phase into better extrinsic properties of the magnet. And, since the process will apply equally well to fresh or recycled feedstocks, we will also be impacting on the problem of supply dependence.