Export quotas imposed recently by rare earth producers have resulted in shortages and a dramatic price increase of these strategic materials. This has stimulated the search for new non-rare earth containing magnets.
Exploration is driven not only by scientific interest, but also the needs of the electric car and wind energy industries, amongst others. The rare earth permanent magnet (PM) segment accounts for over 60 % of the total magnet market, or over USD 6 billion. The rest is largely ferrites and the aluminium nickel cobalt (AlNiCo) family of iron alloys.
Further details: A new generation of high-performance permanent magnets not based on rare earth elements