. 24/7 Space News .
TECH SPACE
3-D-printed permanent magnets outperform conventional versions, conserve rare materials
by Staff Writers
Oak Ridge TN (SPX) Nov 02, 2016


ORNL's Parans Paranthaman discusses how 3-D printing can be used to manufacture magnets and minimize the waste of critical materials. Image courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Watch a video on the research here.

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated that permanent magnets produced by additive manufacturing can outperform bonded magnets made using traditional techniques while conserving critical materials.

Scientists fabricated isotropic, near-net-shape, neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) bonded magnets at DOE's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL using the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) machine. The result, published in Scientific Reports, was a product with comparable or better magnetic, mechanical, and microstructural properties than bonded magnets made using traditional injection molding with the same composition.

The additive manufacturing process began with composite pellets consisting of 65 volume percent isotropic NdFeB powder and 35 percent polyamide (Nylon-12) manufactured by Magnet Applications, Inc. The pellets were melted, compounded, and extruded layer-by-layer by BAAM into desired forms.

While conventional sintered magnet manufacturing may result in material waste of as much as 30 to 50 percent, additive manufacturing will simply capture and reuse those materials with nearly zero waste, said Parans Paranthaman, principal investigator and a group leader in ORNL's Chemical Sciences Division. The project was funded by DOE's Critical Materials Institute (CMI).

Using a process that conserves material is especially important in the manufacture of permanent magnets made with neodymium, dysprosium--rare earth elements that are mined and separated outside the United States. NdFeB magnets are the most powerful on earth, and used in everything from computer hard drives and head phones to clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles and wind turbines.

The printing process not only conserves materials but also produces complex shapes, requires no tooling and is faster than traditional injection methods, potentially resulting in a much more economic manufacturing process, Paranthaman said.

"Manufacturing is changing rapidly, and a customer may need 50 different designs for the magnets they want to use," said ORNL researcher and co-author Ling Li. Traditional injection molding would require the expense of creating a new mold and tooling for each, but with additive manufacturing the forms can be crafted simply and quickly using computer-assisted design, she explained.

Future work will explore the printing of anisotropic, or directional, bonded magnets, which are stronger than isotropic magnets that have no preferred magnetization direction. Researchers will also examine the effect of binder type, the loading fraction of magnetic powder, and processing temperature on the magnetic and mechanical properties of printed magnets.

Alex King, Director of the Critical Materials Institute, thinks that this research has tremendous potential. "The ability to print high-strength magnets in complex shapes is a game changer for the design of efficient electric motors and generators," he said. "It removes many of the restrictions imposed by today's manufacturing methods."

"This work has demonstrated the potential of additive manufacturing to be applied to the fabrication of a wide range of magnetic materials and assemblies," said co-author John Ormerod. "Magnet Applications and many of our customers are excited to explore the commercial impact of this technology in the near future," he stated.

Contributing to the project were Ling Li, Angelica Tirado, Orlando Rios, Brian Post, Vlastimil Kunc, R. R. Lowden, Edgar Lara-Curzio at ORNL, as well as researchers I. C. Nlebedim and Thomas Lograsso working with CMI at Ames Laboratory. Robert Fredette and John Ormerod from Magnet Applications Inc. (MAI) contributed to the project through an MDF technology collaboration. The DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office provides support for ORNL's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, a public-private partnership to engage industry with national labs.

Research paper


Comment on this article using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Space Technology News - Applications and Research






Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
TECH SPACE
Metamaterial device allows chameleon-like behavior in the infrared
University Park PA (SPX) Nov 03, 2016
An electric current will not only heat a hybrid metamaterial, but will also trigger it to change state and fade into the background like a chameleon in what may be the proof-of-concept of the first controllable metamaterial device, or metadevice, according to a team of engineers. "Previous metamaterials work focused mainly on cloaking objects so they were invisible in the radio frequency o ... read more


TECH SPACE
NavCube could support an X-ray communication test in space

NASA, Navy practice Orion module recovery

Weightless tourism just 4 years away

BRICS Space Agencies Sign Memorandum on Cooperation in Space Exploration

TECH SPACE
US revives hypersonic aerospace research

JCSAT-15 arrives in Kourou for Dec Ariane 5 launch

Aerojet Rocketdyne completes CST launch abort engine hot fire tests

China launches first heavy-lift rocket

TECH SPACE
Mars' ionosphere shaped by crustal magnetic fields

Iron-Loving Bacteria A Model For Mars Life

Opportunity makes small U-turn to reach summit of Spirit Mound

'Millions' needed to continue Europe's Mars mission: ESA chief

TECH SPACE
New heavy-lift carrier rocket boosts China's space dream

Long March-7 being assembled, to transport Tianzhou-1

Long March-5 reflects China's "greatest advancement" yet in rockets

Kuaizhou-1 scheduled to launch in December

TECH SPACE
AsiaSat wins patent for effective satellite broadband connectivity to aircraft

SSL delivers powerful, high capacity broadband satellite for Hughes to Cape Canaveral

NASA small satellites will take a fresh look at Earth

Airbus Defence and Space delivers satellite communications to Royal Air Force's Red Arrows

TECH SPACE
3-D-printed permanent magnets outperform conventional versions, conserve rare materials

Nickel-78 is a doubly magic isotope supercomputer confirms

Smashing metallic cubes toughens them up

The quantum sniffer dog

TECH SPACE
Protoplanetary Discs Being Shaped by Newborn Planets

What happens to a pathogenic fungus grown in space?

How Planets Like Jupiter Form

Giant Rings Around Exoplanet Turn in the Wrong Direction

TECH SPACE
Mystery solved behind birth of Saturn's rings

Last Bits of 2015 Pluto Flyby Data Received on Earth

Uranus may have two undiscovered moons

Possible Clouds on Pluto, Next Target is Reddish









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.