SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Powdermet will process rare earth permanent magnets and evaluate a rapid consolidation process. The rapid consolidation process should reduce grain size, material losses, increase final compact density and lower overall magnet costs. The use of heavy rare earths are used to improve temperature stability, which can be lowered by reducing grain size by limiting magnet exposure during consolidation. The ability to produce near net shape parts reduces material losses, and the improvements in density can improve overall magnet performance by eliminating porosity. Powdermet is a leader in nanostructured materials development and manufacturing, and is currently producing critical materials such as niobium metals and alloys through a hydride-dehydride process which is analogous to the processing routes to make NdFeB magnets. There is currently a heavy dependence on China for rare earth metals and alloys, and few permanent magnet manufacturers for NdFeB exist domestically.
