Chapter 462 Light Rare Earths and Heavy Rare Earths
The rare earths that people often talk about are actually a collective name for 17 metal elements, namely lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium
.Based on different physical and chemical properties, rare earths are divided into light rare earths and heavy rare earths. Light rare earths include the above-mentioned 7 elements from lanthanum to europium, and heavy rare earths are the remaining 10 elements.
The content of rare earth elements in the earth's crust is not low, but only rare earth elements enriched together can form mineral deposits with mining value. The rare earth minerals currently discovered are mainly divided into monazite ore, bastnasite, xenotime and
Ion adsorption type rare earth mineral.
Monazite mines and bastnaesite ores are widely distributed. For example, the famous Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California, USA, is a bastnaesite mine. The rare earths produced by these two mines are mainly light rare earths such as lanthanum and cerium.
Xenotime and ion-adsorbed rare earth minerals are mainly heavy rare earth minerals, with the latter containing the most complete range of heavy rare earth elements. This rare earth mineral has only been found in southern my country, and has never been found in other countries.
Due to the different distribution of mineral deposits including different rare earth elements, the proven reserves of various rare earth elements vary greatly, which in turn affects their respective prices. Among various rare earth elements, lanthanum and cerium of the light rare earth series are the cheapest and were once considered the cheapest.
Known as the "cabbage price", praseodymium, neodymium and other elements are slightly more expensive, but they are not expensive. In contrast, the prices of heavy rare earths are quite different. The oxides of dysprosium, terbium and other elements are more expensive than lanthanum,
Cerium oxide is hundreds of times higher, and it is dozens of times higher than praseodymium and neodymium oxide.
After clarifying the distinctions between rare earths and the price differences, it is not difficult to understand why various institutions that research rare earth permanent magnet materials focus on light rare earths. The reason is nothing more than the hope of reducing the price of permanent magnet materials.
, enabling it to be more widely used.
The main material of NdFeB is light rare earth neodymium. The price of neodymium oxide per ton is only US$30,000 to US$30,000 per ton, which enables the price of NdFeB to be controlled below US$30,000 per ton. If the main rare earth material is replaced by
Dysprosium and terbium are ten times higher than those of dysprosium and terbium. Then the price of new permanent magnet materials will inevitably increase by more than ten times, which is an unbearable burden for industries that use permanent magnet materials.
After Sun Yuzhi revealed that the new permanent magnet material is a mixed sinter of dysprosium iron boron and terbium iron boron, Hirano Sadao's first thought was the cost issue.
Even if the new permanent magnet material has higher magnetic properties than NdFeB, if its price is more than 10 times that of NdFeB, then its market value will be greatly reduced.
Before Hirano Sadao could figure out the problem, Sun Yuzhi's next sentence completely destroyed his hesitation: "After our experimental verification, the Curie temperature of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy can reach 700 degrees Celsius, which is much higher than that of neodymium-iron-boron.
of 350 degrees Celsius.”
The so-called Curie temperature is simply the temperature at which a magnet loses its magnetism. A fatal weakness of NdFeB is that its Curie temperature is only about 350 degrees Celsius. Even if other elements are added to improve it, the maximum can only be increased to about 460 degrees Celsius.
.Because the Curie temperature is too low, NdFeB has no use in some high temperature situations.
Because he knew this weakness of NdFeB, when Sun Yuzhi said that the Curie temperature of the new permanent magnet material could reach 700 degrees Celsius, Hirano Sadao's eyes widened. He immediately realized that this
The emergence of a new type of material will pose a fatal threat to NdFeB.
No, we must obtain the patent authorization for dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy. Otherwise we will be squeezed out of the permanent magnet material market. Nd-iron-boron will become an outdated low-end material, and even if it is not eliminated, its profit margin will be
Squeezed to an extremely pitiful level.
Once Sadao Hirano understood this truth, he immediately put aside his previous arrogance and said to Qin Hai: "Chairman Qin, please allow me to congratulate you on the discovery of this new type of permanent magnet material. I believe it will definitely become a
NdFeB is a new material with equal status. Chunshan Corporation is very interested in cooperating with your company on this new material. I wonder what the conditions for cooperation you want are."
Qin Hai said calmly: "Mr. Hirano, what you just said is wrong. The emergence of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy is not only equivalent to NdFeB, but may completely replace NdFeB. I think you should be able to do this.
See."
"This...I'm afraid Chairman Qin is too optimistic?" Hirano Sadao said bravely. What Qin Hai said was exactly the same as his idea, but he couldn't agree with it publicly. As long as he devalued the value of dysprosium and terbium ferroalloy
, he was able to obtain the best cooperation conditions for Chunshan Club, and he knew this very well.
Nakagawa Motohisa also thought about this problem, and he interjected reluctantly: "Chairman Qin, you should know that NdFeB is a mature product, but Dysprosium-Terbium-Fe alloy is not mature enough yet..."
As soon as these words came out, Hirano Sadao almost had the desire to strangle this pig teammate. Maturity and immaturity are just relative things, and immature technology will eventually become mature. Nakagawa Motohisa's words, at first glance, sounded like
By belittling the value of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy, it is actually handing the argument into the hands of the opponent.
Of course Qin Hai would not miss this opportunity. He laughed and said: "Mr. Nakagawa said it well. Dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy has just come out and is still very immature. However, even for such an immature product, it has shown outstanding performance."
In order to surpass the competitiveness of NdFeB, doesn't this mean that this product has great market potential? We are very willing to work with Chunshan Club to improve this new material and bring it to a higher level. If Chunshan Club at this time
If you are unwilling to participate in joint development, when this technology matures in the future, the conditions for cooperation may be higher than now."
"Uh, Chairman Qin, you can't say that... The price of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy is much higher than that of neodymium-iron-boron. This is an undeniable flaw. We believe that this flaw will seriously hinder the market promotion of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy.
"Hirano Sadao said.
Sun Yuzhi said: "Mr. Hirano, we are aware of the problem you mentioned. We are now working hard to improve this product and try to reduce the content of dysprosium and terbium by adding other elements, so that it can effectively reduce its
The price. I have already told Chairman Qin that if we can get the support of Spring Mountain Company, our research process will be greatly accelerated."
"Sun Jun's kindness, I am very grateful." Hirano Sadao bowed slightly to Sun Yuzhi, then turned to Qin Hai and said: "Chairman Qin, as Sun Jun said, the participation of our Spring Mountain Company will help your company to improve its performance."
Terbium-iron alloy materials are helpful, so we hope that your company can propose a more sincere cooperation condition so that both of us can reach a cooperation intention as soon as possible."
"Hmm... Okay." Qin Hai pretended to be half-hearted and said: "Professor Sun did tell me that he hopes to cooperate with Chunshan Company, especially Mr. Hirano and Mr. Nakagawa. Our consideration is that we hope
What does Mr. Hirano think of being able to use the patent of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy to exchange the patent of neodymium-iron-boron with Chunshan Company, and the improvements made by both parties within the scope of the patent will be shared by both parties?"
NdFeB was invented by the Japanese. At the beginning of the invention, Japanese companies applied for patents for a full range of products, among which the patent owned by Chunshan Company is the most critical. Under the protection of patents, if companies in other countries want to produce NdFeB
Products must pay patent fees to Chunshan Company. Even if these companies carry out technological innovation and develop new products, as long as the main component is NdFeB, there will be patent issues involved, which cannot be circumvented.
It is sad to say that in fact, Chinese scholars’ research on NdFeB was no later than that of Japanese scholars. It was only because of insufficient awareness of patents and a lack of emphasis on commercialization of technology that such an important patent as NdFeB was used by the Japanese.
Exclusive possession. Before the NdFeB patent expired, China, as a major NdFeB producer, handed over a large amount of profits to the Japanese hands every year.
Qin Hai understood the cause and effect of this matter. If he could have traveled a few years earlier, he might have obtained the NdFeB patent before the Japanese. Now, the NdFeB patent has been occupied by the Japanese. He
What can be done is to exchange the patent for the dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy newly developed by Sun Yuzhi with the Japanese.
"Patent exchange?" The condition proposed by Qin Hai made Sadao Hirano stunned for a moment, and then he fell into deep thought.
Sadao Hirano is very clear about the value of the NdFeB patent. If this patent is shared with Daqin Group, once Daqin Group enters the NdFeB industry, Chunshan Company will lose a lot of patent fee income. You know, China is
As a major rare earth country, the cost of producing NdFeB is far lower than that of Japan. Daqin Group can easily steal most of Chunshan Company's overseas markets.
However, without exchanging patents, Spring Mountain Company's risks will be greater. Dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy can be a foreseeable substitute for neodymium-iron-boron. If Spring Mountain Company cannot obtain the patent authorization for dysprosium-terbium iron alloy, it will not be able to enter this market.
I can watch helplessly as Daqin Group uses dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy to squeeze out neodymium-iron-boron. In this emerging dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy market, Chunshan Company cannot even hope to get a piece of the soup.
It should be a cost-effective account to exchange a market facing recession for a booming market.
"Chairman Qin, I can't make the final decision on this matter, but I will convey your request to the company headquarters as soon as possible, and the company headquarters will soon send a specialist to negotiate with your company." Hirano Sadao decided to stabilize Qin Hai first.
Make a decision again. He added: "We still need to identify the properties of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy. Can you please provide us with some samples so that we can conduct research?"
"Absolutely, we are waiting for the arrival of your company's specialists at any time." Qin Hai readily agreed. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!
ps: Let me explain: Dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy is fictional by the author. Let’s just think it is a black technology in the 22nd century...