CHANGWON — MH Materials, formerly Manho Rope & Wire, is developing permanent magnets that use less rare earth material. The company aims to cut neodymium use, the main raw material, by 30% and to avoid costly heavy rare earths, lowering production costs per kilogram by about 34%.
MH Materials said on the 16th that it signed an agreement with the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) for the joint development and commercialization of next-generation high-performance permanent magnets. The two organizations will begin work on MH HIMAG, the magnet brand the company is seeking to commercialize. The core of the agreement is for MH Materials to combine material technology developed by KIMS with its own manufacturing processes to create a product suitable for mass production. The first destination is motors for robots, and the company plans to expand overseas sales channels after commercialization.
Permanent magnets are a key component used in electric vehicle drive motors, industrial motors and the actuators that move robot joints. Because the magnets must be strong and heat-resistant, they require expensive rare earth materials. Production costs swing widely with raw material prices and supply conditions, a burden the industry has long cited.
MH HIMAG changes the structure of rare earth use. It cuts the use of neodymium (Nd), a light rare earth, by 30% and replaces part of it with relatively inexpensive cerium (Ce). It does not use the heavy rare earths dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb). Heavy rare earths are used to keep magnet performance from degrading at high temperatures, but supply is limited and prices are high.
The challenge is securing performance while reducing raw materials. A magnet must have sufficient coercivity — a measure of how well it retains magnetism when exposed to an opposing magnetic field or to heat — to be used in industrial products. MH Materials will add its own manufacturing capabilities to KIMS's material technology to pursue both raw material savings and performance.
The manufacturing process also differs from conventional methods. Conventional sintering compresses magnetic powder and then bakes it at high temperatures to form a magnet. The hot deformation process to be applied to MH HIMAG applies pressure to heated material to obtain the desired magnetic properties. The goal is to simplify the process while securing performance, thereby lowering production costs.
The company said reducing neodymium use, substituting cerium and eliminating heavy rare earths could lower production costs by about 34% per kilogram of permanent magnet. It projected the hot deformation process would cut manufacturing costs by about 15%.
The company said the technology would also help diversify a permanent magnet supply chain heavily dependent on China. China exerts influence over the global market in both rare earth raw materials and permanent magnet production.
The company will first build a pilot production system with annual capacity of 50 tons. The first application will be magnets for robot actuator motors being developed by affiliate MH Dynamics. After applying prototypes to customer products to verify performance and quality, the company will consider raising capacity to between 1,000 tons and as much as 10,000 tons a year, depending on market demand and orders.
"The core of this partnership is connecting KIMS's research results to actual production processes and customer products to turn them into a business," said Lim Kwan-heon, chief executive of MH Materials. "We will proceed step by step with pilot production and verification of robot actuator applications to build up the domestic base for permanent magnet production."