On May 30, 2022, the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS, based in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture; Kazuhiro Hono, President), TDK Corporation, Daido Steel Co., Ltd., Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. and Hitachi Metals, Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding to launch a NIMS-led Materials Open Platform for Permanent Magnet (MOP). This MOP is a joint basic research framework under which the companies will team up with academia to conduct basic magnet research.
Since 2017, NIMS has been operating materials open platforms (MOPs): collaborative frameworks under which NIMS facilitates industry-specific joint basic research by private companies and academia. The new Magnet MOP, with four participating magnet manufacturers, will carry out magnetic materials basic research to achieve common goals.
From FY2012 to FY2021, NIMS ran the Elements Strategy Initiative Center for Magnetic Materials (ESICMM) with support from MEXT (the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) to promote basic research on next-generation magnetic materials free of scarce chemical elements and develop basic theories and technologies vital to magnet industry R&D. This decade-long program ended in March 2022 after many successes in achieving these goals. The Magnet MOP was freshly launched to continue magnet basic research collaboration with academia leveraging the analytical platforms and the network of researchers built during the ESICMM program. This MOP aims to optimize magnetic materials design and processing using world-class microstructure analysis techniques and data-driven research methodologies and to develop tools needed to quickly fabricate materials with required characteristics. In addition, NIMS will work to deepen researchers’ collaboration through its cross-appointment system and other means.
NIMS will also set up a membership system called “Magnet Partnership” as a means of exchanging opinions with other magnet-related companies regarding the information to be published by the Magnet MOP—a potential source of future project ideas for the MOP. The Magnet MOP will take a two-step approach: 1) NIMS will hold discussions with each participating company and decide what its specific role will be in achieving the common MOP goal of developing the technological basis needed to design high-performance magnets; and 2) based on these decisions, NIMS will coordinate bilateral research between each company and NIMS.
Through these activities, NIMS will support participating companies in exploiting magnetic material-related technology developed by the Magnet MOP for their specific needs. Furthermore, NIMS will work to improve the performance of motors to be used in electric vehicles and other technologies and reduce the use of scarce chemical elements, thereby contributing to Japan’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality.
