Rare Earth Magnets

Rare earth magnets, despite their name are really not all that uncommon. The are actually just as plentiful as tin or lead is. As these magnets tend to break and chip easily, as well as corrode, they are generally plated or coated so that they are protected before they can be used. Corrosion protection can be provided by tin plating, or coating with epoxy resin, nickel, zinc or gold. Other rare earth materials,lanthanide for example, are able to be magnetized, however, they must be kept below room temperature to be magnetic.

Rare earth magnets come in two varieties,  samarium-cobalt and neodymium. The stronger magnetic field is provided by neodymium which are used in a wide variety of consumer products including aircraft, self-powered flashlights, computer hard drives, cordless tools, LCD TVs, speakers, toys for children, and medical equipment. Neodymium magnets have become progressively less expensive since their invention in the 1980s. Developed in the 1970s, samarium-cobalt magnets have a weaker magnetic field.


One should not underestimate the strength of these rare earth magnets. Serious injuries can be caused by pinching if body parts become trapped between these magnets if they are any larger than a few centimeters or more. They actually have enough strength, even, to shatter bone. Injury can also be caused by flying chipped pieces of the magnets if they are kept too close to each other. As with any magnetic material, demagnetizing effects apply. If kept too close to credit cards, ID cards or computer hard drives, the stored information has the potential of being erased.





A recent discovery in magnetism in 2010 made in Twin Cities Minnesota by  materials physicists has uncovered a magnetic material with 18% more magnetism than the current limit. Computer manufacturers have the potential of creating hard drives capable of containing more information by utilizing this new magnetic material.

Another application of rare earth magnets is in electric and hybrid vehicles. Which, due to the rising price of fossil fuels, are becoming popular items. The typical electric car contains somewhere around ten pounds of rare earth materials. The demand for such magnets around the world is somewhere between around fifty thousand and fifty-five thousand tons yearly. About 97 percent of the world's current rare earth magnets are currently owned by china. A combined effort of the U.S. And Japan has begun to even this number out through the recycling of appliances as well as the extraction of rare earth magnets from uranium.


Clean energy sources have been found to be reliant on these rare earth magnets and thus have become a very profitable commodity for investment though there is no public trade associated with the majority of trading companies. They are also applied in the U.S. defense program, rare earth magnets are required in many modern weapons for proper function. It has actually become a national security issue to preserve the rare earth material industry. There is a worldwide understanding of the necessity to preserve the steady supply of these materials from mines, as our would relies on them for technology and security.