81 percent of rare earth elements were sourced from China.
A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, alongside colleagues in Austria, has discovered a potential replacement for the current method for making high-performance magnets without using rare earth elements.and electric vehicles, are vital for building a zero-carbon economy. Currently, the best permanent magnets available require rare earth elements.Even if the name "rare earth" sounds unpromising, these elements aren't quite as rare as they may sound.
An urgent need for alternative materials that do not require rare earth elements is needed, and this is where the team's research comes into play.The tetrataenite mineral is the rare earth element in question here. It is a ‘cosmic magnet,’ or an iron-nickel alloy with a particular ordered atomic structure, that takes millions of years to develop naturally inPrevious attempts to create artificial tetrataenite in labs have required extreme and impractical methods.
Initially, the diffraction pattern of tetrataenite looked like that of the structure expected for iron-nickel alloys. But Dr. Ivanov’s closer look identified the tetrataenite. By mixing iron, nickel, and phosphorus in the right quantities, the team was able to speed up tetrataenite formation by between 11 and 15 orders of magnitude. It formed in mere seconds in simple casting.