Researchers from Erich Schmid Institute – Univ. Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Eckert, Dr. Baran Sarac and Dr. Sergey Ketov - in cooperation with colleagues from Cambridge University, have found a way to produce the mineral tetrataenite, previously only known from meteorites, in the laboratory. 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 specialized treatment or expensive techniques
The material could be used to create the enormously strong magnets that are used, for example, in electric cars or wind turbines, without using rare earths, which would reduce environmental damage and resource dependency.
The interview on the discovery of rare-earth free tetrataenite-based supermagnets is now released in Austrian Press Release and Austrian Academy of Sciences - Newsfeed:
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/news/kosmisch-inspiriert-supermagnet-ohne-seltene-erden-entwickelt-1
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/news/cosmically-inspired-super-magnet-without-rare-earths
https://science.apa.at/power-search/6475605897316719818
A patent application on the technology has been filed together by the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Cambridge Enterprise. The results of this study were also reported in Advanced Science (Direct Formation of Hard-Magnetic Tetrataenite in Bulk Alloy Castings, 2204315, 2022)