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habeus_coitus t1_iyotg66 wrote

I’m far removed from my materials science days and can only barely grasp what this article is saying. Here’s some layman’s definitions for those wishing to read the article:

coercivity - a measure of a material’s ability to withstand an external magnetic field without becoming demagnetized itself

permeability - in contrast to coercivity, it is a measure of how magnetized within an external magnetic field a material will become

anisotropy - from the greek “an” meaning “anti, not the same, without, not equal” and “tropikos” meaning “orientation, direction, to turn”. Essentially meaning that a material’s properties are not uniform/the same in all spatial directions. In context, likely referring to a material having much more pronounced magnetic fields within some orientations than others wrt their crystal lattice structure

genetic algorithm - a computational technique whereby multiple configurations are simulated, and a subset of the “best performing” configurations are sampled and then randomly tweaked to try and incrementally improve those configurations, the ultimate goal being to arrive at an optimal solution to a problem

So in full context, the researchers attempted to use a computer to identify a chemical compound that would produce a maximal magnetic field without the need for expensive, hard to acquire rare earth elements.

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howardbrandon11 t1_iyphfx7 wrote

>the researchers attempted to use a computer to identify a chemical compound that would produce a maximal magnetic field without the need for expensive, hard to acquire rare earth elements.

Perfect tl;dr.

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theplushpairing t1_iypxus9 wrote

But did they succeed?

Tl;dr — yes, but it’s early days

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PlutoDelic t1_iyqf4mq wrote

Can we put 'em on a fusion reactor?

Asking for 8billion friends, much needed.

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Ecstatic_Carpet t1_iyr5zjk wrote

Fusion reactors need massive superconducting magnets, not cheap permanent magnets.

This work is better for reducing the environmental impact of the quickly growing EV market. Mining for rare earth metals is pretty destructive.

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tonybenwhite t1_iyqmbi8 wrote

That’s pretty much what I expect out of every “scientists discover…” article posted on Reddit by default

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catagris t1_iyqjarc wrote

I asked ChatGPT this question. This is what I got back

Can you help me identify a chemical compound that would produce a maximal magnetic field without the need for expensive, hard to acquire rare earth elements.

There are several chemical compounds that can produce a magnetic field without the need for rare earth elements. Some examples include iron oxide (Fe3O4), nickel oxide (NiO), and cobalt oxide (CoO). These compounds are not as strong as compounds that contain rare earth elements, but they are still capable of producing a significant magnetic field. Additionally, they are more readily available and less expensive than rare earth compounds.

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catagris t1_iyqjcms wrote

Can you write a poem about it?

Sure, here's a short poem about a magnetic field:

A force unseen, yet strong and true
It guides and pulls, and makes things move
From iron filings to compass needles
The magnetic field is full of possibilities

It surrounds us, in earth and space
A fundamental force with a hidden face
But with the right tools and a curious mind
We can unlock its secrets, and learn to find

The power of magnetism, it cannot be denied
It shapes our world, and serves as a guide
From motors to generators, it provides the spark
The magnetic field, a force to marvel and embark.

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debasing_the_coinage t1_iyr7x38 wrote

Basically, yes. The crucial figure of merit, though, is the magnetic energy product, usually given in megagauss-oersteds (MGOe), which sadly is missing from the abstract. This is the product of remanence, the field that remains in a material after being removed from a polarizing field (all permanent magnets have to be "initialized" by exposure to a strong field), and coercivity, which you explained.

Unfortunately, cobalt, while not a rare earth, is not really that much cheaper than neodymium (cf. battery woes). So the battle is still between L10-FeNi, Fe16N2, and MnAl, all of which are, unfortunately, very hard to produce from their constituent elements. The other material MnBi has been known for a while, but bismuth, like cobalt, is "not rare-earth but rare". A similar technique was used to discover Co3Mn2Ge:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359645421002937

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Schemati t1_iytfqa6 wrote

How does this compare to the phosphorus magnet they recently figured out how to synthesize based on a metal found in meteors

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