Ames Laboratory, a unit of the U.S. Department of Energy, has inked a research & development partnership deal with Molycorp, manufacturer of rare-earth oxides, to develop new processes to manufacture commercial-grade rare-earth permanent magnets.
Molycorp has over five decades of expertise in the development and commercialization of groundbreaking processing technologies for rare earth materials, while Ames Laboratory has over six decades of research expertise in the materials science domain.
Rare-earth Magnet
The Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Molycorp, John Burba, and Ames Laboratory scientists, Karl Gschneidner Jr. and Vitalij Pecharsky, are the principle researchers in the project.
Ames Laboratory researchers will study various proportions of rare earth materials and production methods to produce permanent rare earth magnets that share similar attributes with existing neodymium-iron-boron magnets. The combinations of material investigated will match with the proportions of rare earth materials in the Mountain Pass mine of Molycorp. The researchers will use low-cost and eco-friendly methods for the study. Karl Gschneidner will be the head of the research team at the Ames Laboratory.
Gschneidner commented that the partnership will train post-doctoral students, graduates and undergraduates in the rare earth research and fill the gap in intellectual infrastructure of rare earth materials.
The President and Chief Executive Officer at Molycorp, Mark Smith, commented that the research collaboration would bring advancements in the designing and production of rare-earth magnets.