WASHINGTON, D.C. – Karl A. Gschneidner Jr., a senior
metallurgist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory,
today cautioned members of a Congressional panel that "rare-earth
research in the USA on mineral extraction, rare-earth separation,
processing of the oxides into metallic alloys and other useful
forms, substitution, and recycling is virtually zero."
Rare-earth elements are critical components in the great
majority of America's high-tech commercial and military products.
Their vital role in our nation's economic and national security was
underscored by today's hearing of the Investigations &
Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and
Technology, which was devoted entirely to the topic.
To optimize the use of rare earths in current and future
products, scientists combine rare earths with other elements to
create alloys intended for specific purposes. Yet the United States
and other nations have ceded much of this alloying knowledge to
China, Gschneidner said.
During the hearing, Gschneidner, an acknowledged leader in the
field, demonstrated the benefits that added expertise in rare-earth
alloying would bring the nation by holding up a
neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnet, which he and his colleagues,
including Rick Schmidt, principal scientist emeritus, recently
created at the Ames Laboratory, using a revolutionary new process
that was also developed at the Lab.
However, current methods used to manufacture the magnets produce
hazardous byproducts. In contrast, the Ames Lab process eliminates
production of these byproducts. Also significant, the Ames
Laboratory process has the potential to enable the United States to
produce neodymium-iron-boron magnets less expensively.
Global sales of neodymium-iron-boron magnet products total $4.1
billion. Such magnets include the rare-earth element, neodymium,
and they can be found in a wide array of electronic and electrical
components.
Cheaper, greener magnets hint at other advanced technologies,
such as improved batteries and magnetic refrigeration, that could
result from increased research into rare-earth materials.
Gschneidner, who was honored by Congress in 2007 in advance of
his receiving the Acta Materialia Gold Medal, the top international
award in the field of materials science, is perhaps best known for
advancing another rare-earth dependent technology, magnetic
refrigeration.
Though little known outside of research circles, rare-earth
magnetic alloys can be used to manufacture highly efficient and
green cooling devices that Gschneidner and others believe could
reduce the nation's energy consumption by 5 percent, if universally
adopted.
"Europe and China are moving rapidly in this area," Gschneidner
told panel members, "the USA needs to put together a strong,
cohesive effort to retain our disappearing leadership in this
technology."
Game-changing breakthroughs in magnetic refrigeration technology
that, in turn, have allowed other nations to aggressively develop
it, were in large part the result of efforts by Gschneidner and his
team of Ames Laboratory researchers who succeeded in creating new
alloys of the rare-earth element gadolinium.
SOURCE
