Clean Technology Leaders from across the globe gather at Rare Earth Magnet Conference

REPM (Rare Earth and Future Permanent Magnets and their Applications) 2023 brought together world-leading scientists and engineers working on rare-earth permanent magnets and their applications, to facilitate the exchange of recent results and exploration of ideas on topics such as raw materials, resources, processing, and properties of rare-earth and future permanent magnets.

It was a fitting celebration for the 40^th anniversary of the invention of the world’s strongest magnetic material, neodymium-iron-boride (NdFeB). The inventor, Dr. Sagawa, was recently awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering for this discovery, and was speaking at this conference on his influences, including the work of Birmingham’s Magnetic Materials Group.

Over the course of the four-day conference delegates were treated to eighty talks and 90 poster presentations. Leading experts from the field delivered seminal plenary talks, these experts included the inventors of rare earth magnet materials, Dr. Masato Sagawa (NdFeB) and Professor Michael Coey (SmFeN).

Speaking about REPM 2023 David Brown,  Professor of Magnetic Materials at the University of Birmingham said: "This was a wonderful conference that  provided a unique platform for policy makers, magnet users, scientists and manufacturers to discuss and collaborate on the future direction of clean technologies."

Outside of the main conference, UKRI hosted an investor showcase to explore how they might support investment in this sector and link-up opportunities and the SUSMAGPRO team hosted an interactive permanent magnet exhibition and laptop dismantling competition. Delegates were also invited to tour the pilot Magnet Recycling Facilities at the University of Birmingham.

REPM 2023 delivered fourteen sessions that explored the full spectrum of challenges facing the world of rare earth and permanent magnetic materials, these included:

1. Raw Materials, Resources and Mining
2. Supply Chain Development and Magnet Processing
3. Alloy Design and Machine Learning
4. Recycling of Rare Earth Magnets
5. Unconventional Processing
6. Nanocrystalline & Thin Film Magnets
7. RE-Fe-B Magnet Processing and Properties
8. Rare Earth-Free Magnets
9. RE-Co Magnets and Processing
10. Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Micromagnetic Modelling
11. Applications of Permanent Magnets
12. Applications and Sustainability of Magnets
13. Advanced Characterisation
14. Rare Earth Nitride Magnets

The discussions at REPM presented a unique opportunity for the global magnet industry spanning five continents to come together, present their work and network in a highly developed event covering a wide range of themes. Connections made at the conference have already led to new collaborations being explored and new international partnerships being formed.

REPM 2023 was sponsored by Innovate UK; Less Common Metals; Grundfos; Bunting; HyProMag; Netzsch; Bomatec; Brockhaus Measurements; GKN; Vacuumschmelze; Dexter; Hirst; BQD; Daido Steel; UK Magnetic Society; Kolektor; Spontaneous Materials; Hearaeus Remloy; Amen, Max Baermann GMBH; and The Magnetics Show.