We urgently need to move away from fossil fuels, but electric vehicles and other green technologies can take their toll on the environment. This pressure can be reduced with a new magnet design, free of rare earth metals, which was created with AI in just three months.
Rare earth metals are essential components in modern-day gadgets and electric tech – including cars, wind turbines, and solar panels – but extracting them from the earth costs a lot in terms of money, energy, and environmental impact.
As a result, technology that does not use these metals can help move us to a greener future more quickly. Enter UK company MaterialsNexus, which has used its proprietary AI platform to create MagNexus, a permanent magnet that does not require rare earth metals.
This is not the first magnet that has been developed, but discovering these materials usually requires a lot of trial and error and can take decades. Using AI magnified everything about 200 times – in just three months, it designed, synthesized and tested the new magnet.
The AI works by analyzing more than 100 million compositions of potential rare-earth-free magnets, weighing not only potential performance but also supply chain security, manufacturing costs and environmental issues.
“AI-driven materials design will impact not only magnetics, but the entire field of materials science,” says physicist Jonathan Bean, CEO of Materials Nexus.
“We have now identified a scalable method for designing new materials for all kinds of industrial needs.”
Materials Consortium partnered with a team from the Henry Rice Institute at the University of Sheffield in the UK to develop the magnet, and it is thought that similar techniques could be used to develop other devices and components free of rare-earth magnets. can be done.
According to the makers of MagNex, compared to conventional magnets, material costs are 20 percent lower than they would otherwise be, and material carbon emissions are also reduced by 70 percent.
In the electric vehicle industry alone, demand for rare-earth magnets is expected to grow tenfold from current levels by 2030, according to Materials Nexus – indicating just how important the potential for these alternative materials is.
Along with using AI to make manufacturing processes more efficient, researchers are busy trying to find ways to collect rare earth materials in more sustainable ways. Such breakthroughs should accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and CO2.2 Exclusion
The AI industry certainly has its own challenges when it comes to CO2 emissions. At its current pace, it is predicted to consume 3.5 percent of global electricity by 2030. If AI's carbon footprint can be managed, it could be a powerful tool in the green tech transition.
“This achievement shows a bright future for materials and manufacturing,” says Iain Todd, materials scientist at the University of Sheffield.
“The next generation of AI-powered unlocked content is hugely promising for research, industry and our planet.”