Rare earth permanent magnet material is a kind of magnetic material made by alloy composed of samarium, neodymium mixed rare earth metal and transition metal (such as cobalt, iron, etc.), pressed and sintered by powder metallurgy method, and magnetized by magnetic field. Compared with traditional permanent magnetic materials, rare earth permanent magnetic materials are currently the magnetic materials with the best magnetic properties and the best comprehensive performance, and have become an indispensable key basic material for modern industry.
China has abundant rare earth resources and has become the world's largest production base and export base for rare earth permanent magnet materials. The rare earth permanent magnet industry is highly competitive in the world.
Rare earth permanent magnet materials have entered the fourth-generation R&D stage
The first generation rare earth permanent magnet material is samarium cobalt permanent magnet material (SmCo5). After years of research and development and production process improvement, the third generation neodymium iron boron (Nd2Fe14B) permanent magnet material basically replaces the first and second generation samarium cobalt Permanent magnet materials have become the most widely used magnetic materials, the fastest developing speed, and the best overall performance. They are one of the important basic materials supporting the modern electronic information industry. At the same time, the fourth generation of rare earth permanent magnet materials represented by rare earth iron nitrogen (Re-Fe-N series) and rare earth iron carbon (Re-Fe-C series) are in the research and development stage, and it is expected to move towards large-scale industrialization in the future application.
China has become the world's largest producer of NdFeB permanent magnet materials
According to data released by the China Rare Earth Industry Association, the output of China's NdFeB permanent magnet materials in 2019 was 180,300 tons, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%, and the growth rate was 4.6% higher than that in 2018. China's NdFeB permanent magnet material output increased rapidly Benefit from the rapid growth of downstream electronic information manufacturing industry and other demand.
At the same time, according to data released by the China Rare Earth Industry Association, China's NdFeB magnetic material output in 2018 was 138,000 tons, accounting for 87% of the world's total output, nearly 10 times that of Japan, the world's second largest producer. China has become the world's largest producer of NdFeB permanent magnet materials.
Sintered NdFeB permanent magnet materials account for more than 90% of NdFeB permanent magnet materials
According to different manufacturing processes, NdFeB permanent magnet materials can be divided into three types: sintering, bonding and hot pressing. According to the data released by China Rare Earth Industry Association, the output of China's sintered NdFeB blank in 2019 was 170,000 tons. A year-on-year increase of 9.7%, accounting for 94.3% of the total NdFeB permanent magnet materials that year; the output of bonded NdFeB magnetic materials was 7,900 tons, an increase of 5% year-on-year, accounting for 4.4%, and the total proportion of other materials was only 1.3%.
Germany is the main export area of China's rare earth permanent magnet materials
China's rare earth permanent magnet material production capacity ranks among the top in the world. China has become the world's largest exporter of rare earth permanent magnet materials. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs of China, China's rare earth permanent magnet products will be exported to more than 100 on 6 continents in 2019. Among these countries, the products exported to Germany accounted for the largest proportion, reaching 17.6%, followed by the United States and Japan, accounting for 11.3% and 11.1% respectively.