- Number 444 |
- July 27, 2015
New process recycles magnets from factory floor
Critical Materials Institute and
Ames
Laboratory scientist
Ikenna Nlebedim is
developing
a process to create new
magnets
from magnetic manufacturing
waste.
A new recycling method developed by scientists at the Critical Materials Institute, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub led by Ames Laboratory, recovers valuable rare-earth magnetic material from manufacturing waste and creates useful magnets out of it. Efficient waste-recovery methods for rare-earth metals are one way to reduce demand for these limited mined resources.
The process, which inexpensively processes and directly reuses samarium-cobalt waste powders as raw material, can be used to create polymer-bonded magnets that are comparable in performance to commercial bonded magnets made from new materials. It can also be used to make sintered magnets (formed by pressure compaction and heat).
[Breehan Gerleman Lucchesi, 515.294.9750,
breehan@ameslab.gov]
