Advanced additively manufactured permanent Magnets for New Energy and MObility Applications (MagNEO)

A transition towards renewable energy sources and sustainable mobility is essential for a carbon-neutral, energy independent Europe and the implementation of the Green Deal, Fit for 55, REPowerEU and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility. By 2040, the demand of rare earth elements (REE), main constituents of permanent magnets (PM) used in wind turbines and particularly offshore, will more than triple in demand (especially Nd & Pr). In automotive, >90% of the electrical vehicles sold today use PM synchronous motors with up to 1 kg of REEs per motor. More than 60% of REEs are extracted1 and over 90% are refined in China. This enables downstream, high-value segments of production, with 98% of PM being produced in China2,3. Europe used 16 kt of REEs in 2020, most of them to manufacture PMs and the current market size is ~6.5 B€, yet, EU has no REE mining and the current RE recovery rate from PMs scrap is <1%. Underdevelopment of PM value chain or increasing supply dependence from non-EU countries, may have a negative impact on EU economy and on employment linked to green transition. Successful development of new PM compositions by 2030, high entropy alloys (HEAs) amongst others, would contribute to develop a market of ~2 B€ in Europe and up to ~8 B€3 globally. European PM end users wish to be less dependent on REE-based PM imports and envisage that, based on system redesign, there are energy and transportation applications which may not require the very high performance of REE-based PMs. There are also applications (e.g., high speed rotors, ABS) where REE-free PMs are valuable owing to better coercivity at elevated temperatures. The MagNEO project focuses on new REE-free magnet compositions. Using pre-existing competence on AlNiCo, a complex material system resembling HEAs, we will develop novel HEA and AlNiCo compositions.