Elements Strategy Initiative Center for Magnetic Materials
National Institute for Materials Science
1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan
Abstract:
More than thirty years have elapsed since the invention of the Nd-Fe-B permanent magnet and we are still searching for new materials that can be considered as candidates on which the next generation permanent magnets may be developed. New magnets must be clearly benchmarked with respect to not only magnetic performance of today’s best Nd-Fe-B magnets but also elements sustainability. Elements Strategy Initiative Center for Magnetic Materials (ESICMM) started in 2012 as a ten-year project under the MEXT’s Elements Strategy Initiative. ESICMM is focused on the development of high-performance permanent magnet materials that may meat such clearly benchmarked requirements. One of the most critical subjects is to develop atomistic understanding of coercivity mechanism of permanent magnets since coercivity dramatically depends on atomic defects and arrangements at interfaces of macroscopic crystal grains. For this purpose, atomistic microstructural characterizations, ab-initio simulations of interfacial structures, and finite element micromagnetic simulations are to be closely combined. Construction of data base and simulation algorithms of thermodynamics and kinetics of structural formation in relevant alloy systems is another highly focused area of investigation in ESICMM. Theoretical and experimental searches for new hard magnetic materials with large magnetic polarization and anisotropy field are also enthusiastically pursued. ESICMM is constituted of three research groups, namely, “Computational materials science group”, “Analysis and evaluation group”, and “Material synthesis group”. The researchers mainly affiliate in National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), and also in Tohoku University, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute of Technology, The Institute for Solid State Physics (ISSP), Nagoya University, Kyoto University, and Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI).