Rare Earth Magnets: Manufacturing and Applications

A comprehensive review of rare earth magnet manufacturing and applications would need several book volumes to cover these topics in detail, so with just a single chapter, the only approach is to provide a brief synopsis of the history, the basics of the manufacturing methods and a few key applications. In terms of value, these materials represent the largest segment of the permanent magnet market and in terms of performance, they have dominated the market since their discovery nearly 60 years ago. As a result of the massive improvement in performance many devices are smaller, lighter, more efficient or lower cost than they would be without them. In some cases, applications would not even be possible without rare earths, particularly those applications that depend on miniaturization. Today, they are used in almost every manufacturing sector but are rarely noticed by the billions of people that benefit from them in daily life. With consistent growth over several decades and with nothing on the horizon to replace them, the future will increasingly depend on rare earth magnets.