More than 50 scientific reports were made at the First All-Russian Scientific and Technical Conference "Permanent Magnets: Science and Technology. Production. Application", which ended in Suzdal of the Vladimir region on September 27. The event was organized by Rusatom Metal Tech LLC (an integrator company in the field of Metallurgy of the Rosatom's Fuel Division) with the support of TVEL JSC, A.A. Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science of Russian Academy of Sciences (IMET RAS), Science and Innovations Private Institution, Ural Federal University, NUST MISIS, as well as the Associations of Producers and Consumers of Rare and Rare-Earth Metals.
The conference was attended by more than 150 leading Russian specialists representing fundamental and academic science, the manufacturing sector, government authorities, as well as consumers of magnetic products.
As part of the six thematic sessions, topical scientific and technical issues concerning raw materials, magnetism of materials, magnetically hard materials, rare-earth magnets production technologies, magnetic systems, physics, engineering, metrology and certification of magnetic measurements were discussed. Based on the results of work of these sessions, the best reports presented by young scientists and graduate students were awarded.
"Realizing the strategic importance of the magnetic field, Rosatom State Corporation has begun to solve these tasks and now is actively developing competencies in the field of rare and rare-earth metals, as well as magnets based on them. The task of achieving technological sovereignty and process leadership cannot be solved without accelerating the processes of developing and introducing innovative materials into production and developing an appropriate scientific and technical base, therefore it is extremely important and essential to form a technological groundwork for the future, which should become the basis of full-cycle productions created by joint efforts," commented Andrey Shevchenko, the Director for Technological Development, Rosatom State Corporation.
Alexey Dub, the Scientific Director of the "Materials and Technologies" Scientific and Technological Development Direction, Rosatom State Corporation, the First Deputy Director General of Science and Innovations JSC, emphasizes the importance of scientific work on obtaining strategic mineral raw materials required for the development of electric transport and wind generation, as well as the importance of cooperation between different organizations.
"The emerging national project "New Nuclear and Energy Technologies" includes a project aimed at creating special materials for the nuclear industry, which assumes work on magnetic topics. They are related to organizing of the production of magnetic systems from both raw natural materials and materials from recycled magnets. Rosatom, Giredmet and the UrFU enterprises are the leaders here. In the process of developing new formulations using the substitution of expensive components, IMET RAS is the leader. We also count on the contribution of the Institute of Steel to the creation of new magnet structures. We consider the creation of composite magnets based on the neodymium-iron-boron and cobalt-samarium systems to be a promising direction. In the context of work planning, a map has appeared in the new national project, on which each contractor will have to show the entire chain of technology formation. The same requirements will apply to implementation of the calendar plans of projects included in the Rosatom's Unified Sectoral Thematic Plan," Alexey Dub noted.
"Market demands are the main motivation to create large-scale production of rare-earth magnets based on the neodymium-iron-boron system. We plan to reach the design capacity of the plant of 1,000 tons per year by 2028, and after 2030 the volume of output will be increased to 3,000 tons per year. This volume will almost completely cover the needs of the Russian market," said Andrey Andrianov, Director General of Rusatom Metal Tech LLC.
Reference
Permanent magnets are invisibly present in everyday life as part of various devices and at the same time are the most important products that ensure the development of a wide range of high-tech areas from nuclear and wind energy to electric transport and medicine. According to experts, the volume of consumption in the world will continue to grow and will reach 227,100 tons by 2028. At the same time, the average annual growth will be 17.2 %.
The Fuel Division of the Rosatom State Corporation (Rosatom's TVEL Fuel Company) includes enterprises for the manufacture of nuclear fuel, conversion and enrichment of uranium, production of gas centrifuges, as well as research and development organizations. As the sole supplier of nuclear fuel to Russian nuclear power plants, TVEL provides fuel to a total of 70 power reactors in 15 countries, research reactors in nine countries around the world, as well as transport reactors of the Russian nuclear fleet. Every sixth power reactor in the world is powered by TVEL fuel. Rosatom's Fuel Division is the world's largest manufacturer of enriched uranium, as well as the leader of the global stable isotope market. The Fuel Division is actively developing new businesses in the fields of chemistry, metallurgy, energy storage technologies, 3D printing, digital products, as well as decommissioning of nuclear facilities. Rosatom's industry integrators for additive technologies and energy storage systems have been created within the Fuel Division.
Since 2020, the Rosatom's Fuel Division has been engaged in phased localization of production of permanent rare-earth magnets based on the neodymium-iron-boron system. The first REM magnets produced by Elemash Magnet LLC (part of the Fuel Division) were supplied to Rosatoms wind power division, JSC NovaWind, for power generators at the Karmalinovskaya Wind Power Plant in the Stavropol region. Currently, Russia has all the necessary resources to create a production chain for REM magnets. In particular, the Rosatom State Corporation has competencies in all key areas, including: extraction of raw materials (projects of the Mining Division); research base (institutes of Science and Innovations JSC); as well as the existing and future production facilities of the Fuel Division. Additionally, the stability of the vertical chain is ensured by cooperation with the leaders of the rare metals industry, in particular, the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant.
