r/science • u/FUZxxl MS | Computer Science | Heuristic Search • Oct 29 '22
RETRACTED - Materials Science New approach to ‘cosmic magnet’ manufacturing could reduce reliance on rare earths in low-carbon technologies
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/new-approach-to-cosmic-magnet-manufacturing-could-reduce-reliance-on-rare-earths-in-low-carbon75
u/Sierra-117- Oct 29 '22
“Previous attempts to make tetrataenite in the laboratory have relied on impractical, extreme methods. But the addition of a common element – phosphorus – could mean that it’s possible to make tetrataenite artificially and at scale, without any specialised treatment or expensive techniques.”
“The researchers say that phosphorus, which is present in meteorites, allows the iron and nickel atoms to move faster, enabling them to form the necessary ordered stacking without waiting for millions of years. By mixing iron, nickel and phosphorus in the right quantities, they were able to speed up tetrataenite formation by between 11 and 15 orders of magnitude, such that it forms over a few seconds in simple casting.
‘What was so astonishing was that no special treatment was needed: we just melted the alloy, poured it into a mould, and we had tetrataenite,” said Greer. “The previous view in the field was that you couldn’t get tetrataenite unless you did something extreme, because otherwise, you’d have to wait millions of years for it to form. This result represents a total change in how we think about this material.’”
This is… actually quite promising. Usually in r/science there’s a massive caveat. But if there is one here, it’s not obvious. A reaction done with abundant materials at achievable temperatures and timescales. Without specialized equipment.
If tetrataenite truly can be used to replace rare earth metals in some applications, this is a massive discovery.
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u/John_Hasler Oct 29 '22
The paper
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u/DadOfFan Oct 30 '22
I tried to read it. Yeah, Nah, got lost pretty quickly.
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u/Castle-dev Oct 30 '22
Explain it to me like I’m 5
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u/SemanticTriangle Oct 30 '22
Nickel iron magnets are strong but soft unless the crystal structure is very specifically ordered. By adding a little phosphorus, we can trick the nickel and iron into the right order to make them into a hard and strong magnet.
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u/DanYHKim Oct 29 '22
By the way, here is part 1 of a series from BBC able the rare Earth metals and their geopolitical significance.
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u/OnlyNeverAlwaysSure Oct 30 '22
This is so wild to me.
So with iron, nickel and phosphorus + science and we have a magnet that may replace our need for rare earth metal batteries. That truly would be groundbreaking right?
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u/spectacular_coitus Oct 29 '22
So when they refer to "Cosmic Magnets" they refer to rare earths. So is this just another way to manufacture neodymium or samarium–cobalt magnets?
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u/Rzah Oct 29 '22 edited Oct 29 '22
The material is roughly 65%* magnetic strength of Neodymium, it is found in meteorites that had just the right composition and spent millions of years cooling down, now we can simply cast it. It will likely replace rare earths for a lot of applications.
* article says theoretical max of 335 kJ/m3 for Tetrataenite vs 512 kJ/m3 for Neodymium
/edit, not an expert, just was curious how it compared and went looking, your comment seemed best place to dump what I found.
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u/SemanticTriangle Oct 30 '22
We generally use NdFeB magnets or similar alloys, which have magnetic energy products comparable to this specific NiFe based mineral.
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u/FUZxxl MS | Computer Science | Heuristic Search Oct 29 '22
These “cosmic magnets” are nickel-iron magnets. The key promising thing is that they can be made without any rare earth elements.
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u/John_Hasler Oct 29 '22
So when they refer to "Cosmic Magnets" they refer to rare earths.
No. Meteorites.
So is this just another way to manufacture neodymium or samarium–cobalt magnets?
No. These materials consist of iron, nickel, and phosphorus. Read the article.
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u/spectacular_coitus Oct 29 '22
I did read the article, but thanks for a condescending remark to somebody looking for some clarification. You're doing a real credit to the sciences with that kind of attitude. Really makes me want to be more curious and ask questions about science.
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u/John_Hasler Oct 30 '22
This assertion
So when they refer to "Cosmic Magnets" they refer to rare earths.
directly contradicts the article. This led me to believe that you had not read it. It's quite common for people to post comments here without having done so.
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u/XSavageWalrusX Nov 04 '22
They may have read it, but certainly didn’t learn anything from it before commenting
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