a small detail in Elon musk's master plan part 3 made major news in the world of physics last month
at a live streamed Tesla investor event that went short on new cars and long on ambitious Tales due
to supply chain issues and the toxicity of their production Colin Campbell an official in Tesla's
powertrain division revealed that his team was removing rare earth magnets from its Motors how
will Tesla make this happen let's find out in today's episode hello everyone welcome back to
Elon Musk Evolution where we bring you the most recent news about Elon Musk and his multi-billion
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March 1 Tesla held its annual investor day the event started with a long in-depth speech on
energy and the environment prior to moving into a series of somewhat predictable announcements and
claims afterwards out of the blue came a complete shocker we have designed our next Drive Unit
which uses a permanent magnet motor to not use any Rare Earth elements at all said Colin Campbell
Tesla's director of Powertrain engineering gamble switched between a pair of slides referencing
three mysterious substances that were helpfully identified as rare Earths 1 2 and 3 in order to
highlight the point the amounts on the first slide which represents Tesla's present range
from 0.5 kilograms to 10 grams then everything was reset to zero on the Tesla of some indeterminate
future time the composition of rare earth 1 was immediately recognized as neodymium by
magneticians people who investigate the strange forces that some materials produce as a result of
electron motion and occasionally make coated hand gestures the metal can contribute to the creation
of a strong Perpetual magnetic field when combined with more well-known elements like iron and Boron
however this feature is rare in materials and even fewer are capable of producing a field
powerful enough to lift heavy objects like fighter planes and a 4500 pound Tesla what kind of magnets
would Tesla use in place of neodymium and other rare Earths if it decided to stop using them in
its Motors the physicists could see one thing for sure Tesla had not created a magnet material that
was fundamentally novel you get a new commercial magnet a couple times a century asserts Annie
Blackburn Executive Vice President of strategy at niron magnetics one of the select few firms
attempting to produce the following such Discovery Blackburn and other flux heads believe Tesla
determined it can get by with a considerably weaker magnet which was most likely the case
ferrite a ceramic made of iron and oxygen with a small amount of a metal like strontium stood
up as the most likely possibility from The Limited pool of possibilities the majority
of which involve pricey and politically sensitive elements like Cobalt since the 1950s refrigerator
doors all across the world have been stuck shut thanks to this inexpensive simple to
make solution the fact that ferrite magnets have a volumetric magnetic strength that is
only roughly one-tenth that of neodymium magnets also poses additional issues Elon Musk the CEO
of Tesla is renowned for his intransigence yet it seemed that something would have to give if
Tesla switched to ferrite an inquiry for comments was not answered by this company although it is
compelling to believe that an electric vehicle's power comes from its battery in fact an electric
vehicle moves due to electromagnetic the fact that both the business and the unit of magnetism are
named after the same person Tesla is no accident the motor shaft rotates as a result of the flow
of electrons through its wire coils pushing against opposing magnetic forces to produce
an electromagnetic field which turns the wheels permanent magnets which have the peculiar property
of having a continuous magnetic field without any electrical input because of the carefully
organized spin of electrons around their atoms power a Tesla's back wheels permanent magnets are
used in a motor to supply those forces in order to increase torque and get more miles out of its
batteries without having to upgrade them Tesla only recently began installing these magnets in
its cars about five years ago induction Motors based on electromagnets which become magnetic
by using electric current were employed prior to then models with front Motors still make
use of those given that it might seem strange to abandon rare Earths and opt instead for the
greatest magnets available in general automakers are enthusiastic about efficiency but with EVS the
battle to persuade consumers to get past their concerns about a short range is still ongoing
however certain Tech that was previously deemed to be 2 too inefficient is making a comeback
as manufacturers try to scale up EV production this is evident in the increase of lithium-ion
phosphate battery-powered automobiles produced by automakers including Tesla in comparison to
batteries made of elements like Cobalt and nickel these versions are frequently of lesser range
earlier technology was used heavier sure also has less energy a long range Model S with a better
battery can go up to 400 miles compared to the present lfp powered model 3s 272 mile range claim
but because it stays away from dealing with pricey and politically contentious Commodities it might
be a wiser commercial decision however it seems implausible that Tesla is merely switching out
its magnets for something far worse like ferrite without making any additional modifications Alina
vashina a physicist at uppsala University predicts that you will need to transport a large magnet in
your vehicle the good news is that a motor is a rather sophisticated machine with a lot of other
parts that in Theory may be adjusted to lessen the impact of employing weaker magnets using computer
simulations the materials company proterial recently found that many performance metrics
of rare earth-driven Motors may be mimicked by carefully placing ferrite magnets and adjusting
other motor design elements in that instance the outcome was a motor that is only roughly
30 percent heavier a difference that may not be noticeable given the overall weight of a car
despite these inconveniences there are several reasons for a car company to get rid of rare
Earth elements if they can handle it the metals have served as a sort of catchphrase
for trans-pacific geopolitical angst ever since China's leader Deng Xiaoping declared them to be
his nation's equivalent to Saudi oil in the early 1990s don't worry about the fact that
rare Earths aren't like oil the market for them is valued roughly the same as that for
eggs in the U.S and they could potentially be mined processed and made into magnets anywhere
in the globe the only country that carries out all of it is China as cheap Chinese rare Earths
entered the market in the 1990s hastening the closure of Mining and processing facilities in
countries like the US China's near Monopoly is partially due to economic factors and partly to
environmental concerns because the most valuable components like the magnet boosting neodymium are
intimately linked with other rare Earths as well as radioactive components like uranium and thorium
Mining and process assessing rare Earths is a notoriously dangerous industry nearly two-thirds
of the rare Earth's mined today in the world are produced in China which also processes more than
90 percent of the magnets your industry is worth 10 billion dollars and thanks to it items with
a yearly market value of two to three trillion dollars are made possible Thomas krumer a mineral
analyzer and creator of the well-known blog Rare Earth Observer claims that it has a significant
amount of Leverage even if only a few kilograms of the substance are in cars he claims that this
is also true without completely redesigning the motor taking them out will result in the
car not moving a supply chain diversification effort is being made by the U.S and Europe in
spite of the ore being transported to China for processing a California mine that was shut down
in the early 2000s has recently reopened and is now the source of 15 percent of the rare Earths
used worldwide government organizations in the U.S especially the Department of Defense have
been eager to engage engine Supply chains both domestically and in Friendly regions like Japan
and Europe the Department of Defense for example needs strong magnets for equipment like aircraft
and satellites however progress is gradual and could take years or even decades due to
costs technological challenges and environmental concerns the department of energy is investigating
using seaweed to sequester rare Earths from Salt Water magnets used in decarbonization instruments
like cars and wind turbines are becoming more and more in demand in the meantime according to
adamus intelligence EVS currently account for 12 percent of rare Earths a market that is only now
beginning to grow parallel to this the price of rare Earths has recently plummeted as a result of
political interventions in China and internal Chinese markets that are often unpredictable
to outside Enterprises overall Jim chelakowski a physicist who researches magnetic materials
at the University of Texas Austin thinks that if you're in a line of employment where you can make
an alternative Work It generally makes sense to do so however he asserts that there are a variety
of good reasons to search for rare earth magnets that are superior to ferrite finding materials
that possess the three necessary properties to be magnetic to maintain their magnetism in
the presence of other magnetic fields and to withstand high temperatures can be difficult
magnets that are too hot stop becoming magnets there are countless possible Atomic configurations
however scientists have a reasonably solid idea of which chemical elements may form good magnets some
magnet Hunters have used a strategy that involves starting with hundreds of thousands of potential
materials eliminating those that have downsides like having rare Earths and then using machine
learning to forecast the magnetic properties of those that are left chelakowski released
the results of his use of the method to produce a novel Cobalt containing highly magnetic substance
late last year geopolitically speaking he claims that's not ideal but it's a place to start
finding fresh simple to make magnets is frequently the most difficult task according to vishina from
uppsala University some recently created magnets such those containing manganese are promising yet
unstable in some circumstances scientists have discovered a material that is incredibly magnetic
yet cannot be produced in large quantities among these is tetrotainite a nickel iron
combination that is only found in meteorites and whose atoms must progressively cool over
a period of thousands of years in order to exactly organize themselves in the right
State the lab is working on ways to make it move faster however thus far no success has been seen
with an iron nitride magnet that according to the magnet startup niron is theoretically
more magnetic than neodymium the business had made some progress however it is also a flimsy
substance that is challenging to produce and keep in a desired State although the business
is progressing according to Blackburn it won't be able to produce magnets strong enough to turn EVS
in time for Tesla's upcoming model year he claims that the new magnets should first be installed in
smaller equipment such as sound systems whether other manufacturers will adopt Tesla's Rare Earth
trade-off is uncertain according to crumer others may choose to use induction Motors or attempt
something new while some may choose to continue with the materials that come with a lot of baggage
he predicts that even Tesla would likely use a few grams of rare Earths in its upcoming cars
dispersed across components like the power windows power steering and windshield wipers in what may
have been a deceptive move Tesla's investor events Rare Earth content comparison slides compared an
entire current generation car to a future motor rare earth magnets manufactured from China will
continue to exist despite workarounds like those being developed by Tesla especially as
the world moves to decarbonize everything could be replaced but as kroomer puts it we simply do
not have the time and now let's look further into what ferrite magnet is what is a ferrite magnet a
ceramic magnet commonly known as a ferrite magnet is a permanent magnet created by mixing iron oxide
with strontium carbonate they are man-made magnets created by heating the two elements to over 2
000 degrees Fahrenheit which causes a chemical process that transforms the Two element mixture
into a ferrite substance with a magnetic field ceramic magnets are a low-cost alternative to
Natural magnets that can be used in everyday electronics and Industrial applications they are
the most extensively used form of magnet in the world appearing in 75 percent of all items that
require a magnet their great corrosion resistance comes with their low cost how are ceramic magnets
made manufacturers were looking for a low-cost replacement to metal magnets in the 1960s it was
near the start of the rapid growth of electronics and metal magnets significantly raised the cost of
manufacturing recording equipment ceramic magnets became popular almost immediately after their
discovery due to its inexpensive cost corrosion resilience and resistance to demagnetization
ceramic magnets are used in a variety of applications such as DC motors magnetic separators
magnetic resonance imaging scanners and sensors ceramic magnets are made of ferrite which is a
combination of iron oxide and strontium carbonate production of ceramic magnets calcining step
calcinating iron oxide powder and strontium carbonate is the first stage in the production
of ceramic magnets calcining also known as calcination is an industrial heating
technique used to alter the chemical and physical properties of solid materials by subjecting them
to extremely high temperatures minerals metals and numerous forms of ore are all handled in
the process calcinating Heats materials to temperatures in over 1800 degrees Fahrenheit
or 1000 degrees Celsius in the case of ceramic magnets the calcium process yields a metallic
oxide substance called sro6 a mixture of strontium carbonate and iron oxide depending on the grade of
the ceramic magnet other elements such as Cobalt or lanthanum may be added to improve the final
product's performance Milling process Milling is used to turn fine powder into finer particles as
thin as two micrometers which is much smaller than human hair these small particles have their own
magnetic domain a ball mill a sort of grinding machine is a common method of Milling used to
Mill the ferrite powder traditional Milling involves the use of rotary cutters a ball mill
which employs metal balls to grind the powder is used to process ferrite powder into finer ferrite
powder a ball Mills structure contains a rotating chamber that can be vertical or
horizontal in orientation inside the compartment metal balls are knocked around with the ferrite
material impacting the substance several times and lowering the particle size slurry
to allow the extremely fine powder to proceed to the compacting process it might be somewhat
liquefied to form a slurry the addition of water transforms the powder into a mud-like substance
this is done with great care to ensure that the mixture has the proper consistency for compacting
compacting the ceramic magnets form is achieved during compacting it is the pressing shaping and
molding of the wet slurry into the final form of the magnet which can come in a wide range of sizes
and configurations during the compacting process an external magnetic field is applied to align
the anisotropic magnetic field when the magnetic field is applied to a material that has not been
formed into a slurry and dry pressed it will be isotropic and have weak magnetic characteristics
centering sintering also known as fritage is a process that uses heat and pressure to create
a solid hard Mass slowly heating the shape magnets from 482 degrees Fahrenheit to 1652
degrees Fahrenheit the length of time the magnet is heated defines its quality good grade magnets
are heated significantly longer than low quality magnets heating might last anywhere between 20 and
36 hours although incredibly high temperatures are used during the sintering process they are never
high enough to melt or liquefy the material it is the process of diffusing atoms of a material over
particle boundaries in order to produce a solid mass sintering is used to increase the strength
and integrity of ceramic magnets as the heat in sintering increases the small minute gaps
between the particles shrink forcing the material to push closely together Machining the assembled
magnets are allowed to cool to ambient temperature after sintering they are then ground and formed to
the specifications of their design each stroke of the grinding tool removes millimeters of material
until the desired size is reached a Diamond Cutter is used to complete the cutting process
for greater precision and accuracy ceramic magnet advantages ceramic magnets have been discovered
to have a growing number of applications since their invention they are permanent magnets and the
most durable and Powerful magnets on the market the major reason for ceramic magnet strength is
their magnet permeability ceramic magnets account for approximately 75 percent of all magnets used
globally there are various reasons for their widespread use the first of which is their
inexpensive cost low cost the First Advantage that is emphasized every time ceramic magnets are
addressed is their inexpensive cost in comparison to other types of magnets ceramic magnets are
created by a technique that produces a magnetic field that is more powerful than natural magnets
ceramic magnets are less expensive primarily because they are made of non-metallic materials
shapes ceramic magnets can be constructed in any shape size or configuration because they
are made of compressed powdered material ceramic magnets can be used in both little toys and giant
MRI scanners due to their wide range of sizes and that ends today's episode please subscribe
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