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Project manager: Prof. Dr.-Ing. G. Ziegmann
Funding period: 01/19 - 01/21
Funded by Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt
The aim of the project is to develop a recycling process for neodymium-iron-boron magnets (NdFeB) from wind turbine generators, electric motors or electrical scrap. To this end, the magnets are finely ground and the resulting particle system is incorporated into a thermoplastic polymer in order to produce injection-mouldable magnetic compounds for the market from this recycled material. This approach will make it possible to offer closed-loop recycling strategies that will enable the European market - here using the example of the cooperation between Germany and Poland - to reintegrate precious, limited resources back into the cycle. In Germany alone, more than 500 tons of NdFeB magnetic material are available in motor vehicles, computers and industrial electric motors. With the processing and market launch of hybrid vehicles and gearless wind turbines, these quantities will continue to increase and could also be available for recycling at the end of these products' lives. Rare earths are of the utmost strategic importance in the high-tech industry and are currently hardly or not at all substitutable.
The extraction and processing of rare earths results in enormous environmental pollution and high consumption of raw materials. Rare earth metals are usually mined in open-cast mines for cost reasons. After mining, further processing often takes place in the immediate vicinity of the mine. In some cases, physical and chemical processes are also used on site to remove the rare earth metals from the rock.
Based on this situation, the IRmagMat project, which consists of three partners from two European countries, is developing a new manufacturing process based on recycled NdFeB from e.g. computer hard disks or disused electric motors, which should make it possible to produce formed permanent magnets, even in complicated geometries, via the injection molding process in a closed material cycle with virtually no waste.
A newly obtained component, manufactured using injection molding or freeformer (3D printing) technology from the recycled products, is to be used in the long term for the previously plastic-bonded magnets, the areas of application are to be expanded and alternative routes are to be mapped out. The original magnetic properties are retained as well as possible and can be used for other applications. This process is essentially based on the metal powder injection molding process, in which metal powder is mixed with plastic and can thus be processed into complex geometries in large quantities in a largely automated injection molding process.
There are plans to establish the material in two areas of application. The e-bike market currently offers great potential. Each of these e-bikes is a potential application for the recycled magnets. However, the great potential in the e-bike market is significant in two respects. Firstly, the motor of a newly produced bike can already be made from recycled magnet materials. The electric motors consist of neodymium magnets, which generate the power. Magnets made from virgin material can easily be replaced by recycled magnetic components made from IRmagMat.
The second potential market for this material is in the field of active fire protection. The purpose of fire protection doors is to protect openings in fire-retardant or fire-resistant walls against the passage of fire. The test interval is therefore no longer standardized, but depends on the approval of your hold-open system according to the old or new approval procedure. The idea is being developed for better operability and sensors made of permanent magnets.