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posted by janrinok on Thursday January 09, @11:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the this-time-we-invented-our-way-around-China dept.

Motor Trend is reporting on early production of a new permanent magnet material https://www.motortrend.com/features/niron-magnetics-clean-earth-permanent-magnets-ces-2025/ suitable for replacing the rare-earth magnets used, for example, in electric car motors, as well as loud speakers and many other products.

Invented some time back by university researchers and now in the pilot production stage (with suitably large investors like car companies),

Science has long known that a certain rare phase of iron nitride­­, known as an alpha-double-prime crystal structure of Fe16N2, holds extremely strong magnetic properties. But when produced by conventional means over the decades, the phase would degrade into more common, less magnetic phases. Then researchers at the University of Minnesota figured out a way to form this magic magnet material on a nano-scale using chemical vapor deposition or liquid phase epitaxy, and then developed a process for compacting and sintering nanoparticles of α″-Fe16N2 into magnets in the sizes and form factors allowing direct replacement of today's rare-earth permanent magnet motors.

Magnetic strength in the magnets used in electric motors is measured in tesla (where 1 tesla = 10,000 Gauss, for those more familiar with the unit used to measure Earth's magnetic pull). Weaker hard ferrite (iron-oxide) permanent magnets typically max out at around 0.35 tesla. The world's strongest permanent magnets made of neodymium measure around 1.4‑1.6 teslas. Niron's Clean Earth iron nitride permanent magnets peg the meter at 2.4 teslas. Niron Clean Earth magnets are also said to lose less magnetism over the typical operating temperature range than today's rare-earth permanent magnets.

Better yet: Niron's entire manufacturing process, from raw ore material to finished magnets, can be produced in a single factory on existing equipment, with 80 percent less CO2 and vastly less water usage, at a price that is currently on par with rare-earth magnets and utterly immune to price volatility due to supply chain and geopolitical forces.

Further icing on the cake: the iron is best sourced from iron salts that are a byproduct of steel manufacturing, with nitrogen sourced from ammonia. Produce that ammonia from air and water in a location that generates surplus solar or wind energy, and you get both clean nitrogen and a source of clean hydrogen that can help power the process.

One less thing to import from China...

For some perspective, here's a page on very high power research magnets (note, these are not permanent magnets as described above), https://new.nsf.gov/science-matters/maglab-makes-magic-magnets

The 100 tesla pulsed magnet at MagLab's Los Alamos site produces the highest nondestructive magnetic field in the world. Higher-field magnets exist but can't withstand a field that high and explode after brief experiments. By pulsing the magnet in bursts that last 15 milliseconds, Los Alamos holds the world record for the highest field ever generated without blowing something up, enabling rare precision measurements.


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by mcgrew on Thursday January 09, @04:44PM (7 children)

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Thursday January 09, @04:44PM (#1388068) Homepage Journal

    The one I bought in 2023 got totaled, I bought another one in November (EVs are to pistons what the Model-T was to a horse and buggy). It has close to a three hundred mile range, but these new magnets, if I have read the article correctly, are almost twice as strong as rare earth magnets. So given the same battery it should go almost twice as far, and have far more horsepower; the new EV is almost as fast as the two fastest cars I've ever owned, and takes off faster than either.

    Not just electric cars, but anything that uses magnetism. Your furnace blower, air conditioner compressor, refrigerator, speakers; anything with magnets will be almost twice as cheap to run with these new magnets.

    --
    A man legally forbidden from possessing a firearm is in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. Have a nice day.
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 09, @06:59PM (6 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday January 09, @06:59PM (#1388099)

    >So given the same battery it should go almost twice as far

    Call me when the math for that has been shown in practice.

    Your motors can be more compact with stronger magnets, but they're already over 90% efficient at converting electrical power into torque / rotary power. Even if "wonder magnets" took you all the way to 100% efficiency, you're not getting even a 10% boost in range per unit power in the batteries. Regenerative braking could get a boost too, but nothing like a 1:1 correlation with magnet strength.

    By the way: you don't need permanent magnets in electric motors at all, you can just pit coil vs coil and get very efficient motors that way. It's relatively easy to imagine how to do that using brushed commutators, but there's also the variable reluctance approach which is also currently reporting 90-95% efficiency in practice.

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    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday January 09, @09:26PM (5 children)

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Thursday January 09, @09:26PM (#1388137) Homepage Journal

      By the way: you don't need permanent magnets in electric motors at all, you can just pit coil vs coil

      True, but it will take twice as much electricity for the same amount of work.

      --
      A man legally forbidden from possessing a firearm is in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. Have a nice day.
      • (Score: 5, Touché) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 09, @10:17PM (1 child)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday January 09, @10:17PM (#1388145)

        By the way: you don't need permanent magnets in electric motors at all, you can just pit coil vs coil

        True, but it will take twice as much electricity for the same amount of work.

        https://www.controleng.com/articles/new-electrostatic-motor-design-90-less-copper-no-magnets-ultra-efficiency/ [controleng.com]

        You haven't designed any bridges I should know about, have you?

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        • (Score: 4, Funny) by mcgrew on Saturday January 11, @07:00PM

          by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Saturday January 11, @07:00PM (#1388421) Homepage Journal

          As I have never taken an engineering class, I would hope not!

          --
          A man legally forbidden from possessing a firearm is in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. Have a nice day.
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 09, @10:24PM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday January 09, @10:24PM (#1388147)
      • (Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Saturday January 11, @06:41AM (1 child)

        by ChrisMaple (6964) on Saturday January 11, @06:41AM (#1388371)

        Most of the electric energy in an electromagnetic motor goes into [distance]x[field strength]. The amount that goes into energizing the electomagnets, and which is lost in resistive heating and eddy currents etc, is negligible in comparison. It will NOT take twice as much electricity for the same amount of work.

        • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday January 11, @06:44PM

          by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Saturday January 11, @06:44PM (#1388417) Homepage Journal

          The reason motors work at all is MAGNETISM. Whether electromagnets or permanent magnets, they work on the principle that opposites charges attract and negative repel. In a normal motor, half of the magnets are electromagnets. For all of them to be electromagnets, all will need the power to be energized.

          Not only would it take twice the electricity it would be far more complex, as both the rotor and stater would need to be powered.

          In short, you could make a motor without permanent magnets, but doing so would make no sense whatever.

          --
          A man legally forbidden from possessing a firearm is in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. Have a nice day.