PR91655

SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-The magnet minimizes the risk of vehicle production interruption by a shortage

of heavy ra re-earth metals. It also lightens a vehicle's weight by reducing

the size and increasing the output of motors.

-The product can improve the driving power of smartphone cameras by 10% and

secure high-definition image quality.

-LG Innotek expects to strengthen the competitive edge of its products such as

motors using the eco magnet. The company will expand the applications of this

magnet to home appliances and flying cars.

LG Innotek announced on the 14th that it has developed the world's strongest

'eco magnet' in collaboration with the magnet company SGI (Sunglim Group

Industry) Co. With this development, LG Innotek will be able to target the

global magnet industry led by China and Japan.

The eco magnet minimized the use of heavy rare-earth (HRE) metals that have

high scarcity values. This magnet is an essential component for vehicle motors,

smartphone cameras, audio speakers, and wind power generators. It is installed

in products that require driving and provides power with its magnetic pushing

and pulling force.

This product significantly reduced the use of HRE metals, a key ingredient of

magnets, by 60% compared to the previous product. This is especially good news

since the industry is struggling to find alternatives of HRE metals due to

their lack of supply, high price, and environmental pollution caused. LG

Innotek's development of the eco magnet is particularly significant in that

South Korea imports most of the HRE metals from China.

The product has raised the magnetic performance for home appliances and vehicle

steering motors to 14.8 kG (in kilogauss, magnet strength), which is the

world's highest level. This beats the products of Japanese companies that have

led the industry for nearly 40 years. The industry believes that the technical

performance limit of this magnet is 15kG. The magnetic performance of products

commercialized so far is only 14.2 to 14.3 kG.

The advantage of the eco magnet is that it uses only 40% of the HRE metals

compared to the previous one. This minimizes the risk of production

interruption due to a lack of raw material supply.

Automakers and vehicle components companies are showing interest in this

magnet, because they have been struggling to reduce the proportion of HRE

metals in their products. These companies are sensing the increasing risk of

production interruption by a shortage of HRE metals supply. HRE metals can only

be produced in certain countries, however the demands have soared recently due

to the increase of electric vehicles. In addition, their supply is expected to

get even tighter as these materials are becoming "weaponized" over diplomatic

disputes.

Applying the eco magnet to a steering motor of a vehicle is advantageous for

reducing the weight of the vehicle. The magnet reduces the size of the motor

while increasing its output; the high magnetic power enables high motor output

with a small size. This product is suitable for electric and hybrid vehicles

that need weight reduction to improve mileage range (fuel economy of electric

vehicles) due to an increase in battery weight. This magnet can also cut the

cost of raw materials such as copper used in motors as it decreases the motor

size.

When the eco magnet is applied to a high-pixel smartphone camera, it produces

clearer photos and videos by increasing the driving force of the actuator (the

part that moves the lens to focus).

As the specifications of smartphone cameras have enhanced, the size and weight

of lenses have increased. And this now requires actuators to have stronger

magnetic power. At the same time, as smartphones get slimmer, the demands for

small but powerful magnets are increasing.

The eco magnet generates a stronger magnetic force than other magnets of the

same size. This can increase the driving power of an actuator by about 10%

without an increase in size. Therefore, even if a lens becomes heavier, the

actuator can move the lens as quickly and accurately as needed.

The development of Eco-magnet is also significant in terms of sustainability

since it minimized the use of HRE metals that cause pollution. HRE metals

seriously pollute the environment by generating lots of radioactive materials,

heavy metals, toxic gases, and acidic wastewater during production.

Until now, Japan, with its cutting-edge technology, and China, with its price

competitiveness, have dominated the magnet market. In particular, China is

dominating the global market by deciding on the global supply of HRE metals.

As a result, companies around the world such as automakers have been adversely

affected by shortage of magnets with HRE metals when trade or diplomatic

disputes arose. High prices and environmental pollution issues also need to be

handled.

To solve such problems, LG Innotek began developing the eco magnet with reduced

HRE metals in 2017 and has been focusing on securing the best magnetic

performance since 2019. To this end, LG Innotek also joined hands with SGI,

which has an HRE metal reduction technology.

HRE metals are an essential component to maintain magnetic force at high

temperatures. Reducing these metals may decrease the durability of a magnet.

Therefore, it was technically difficult to enhance the magnetic force while

minimizing the use of HRE metals.

By adding new compounds, the two companies have developed a coating liquid for

the eco magnet that uses less HRE metals however produces the strongest

magnetic force in various products and temperatures. In addition, the companies

also secured a new magnet material optimized for the coating liquid. LG

Innotek's eco magnet is made by applying this coating liquid to the magnet and

heating the magnet to absorb the liquid evenly.

LG Innotek knew that it could not catch up with Japanese competitors'

technologies in a short period of time with the existing development method. To

speed up the process, the company introduced a simulation technique using

machine learning (a technology that a computer automatically determines and

results in outputs by learning from data). Using this technique, the

development period, which takes at least two years, has been halved.

With the machine learning computer, LG Innotek has significantly reduced the

number and time of experiments by automating the process of deriving optimal

process conditions such as the ratio of HRE metals and heat treatment

temperature. Previously, researchers had to repeat experiments hundreds of

times, which made the development period long and incurred errors.

LG Innotek plans to strengthen its competitive edge in the market by applying

the eco magnet to the company's other products such as steering motors for

vehicles and smartphone actuators.

At the same time, LG Innotek plans promotions targeting global automakers,

vehicle components manufacturers, and smartphone companies. And it will quickly

expand the magnet's applications to air conditioners, refrigerators, drones,

urban flying cars, and generators.

In addition to solidify its technical leadership in magnet, the company has a

plan to develop a 'non-rare-earth magnet' that does not contain rare-earth

metals at all.

CTO Minseok Kang said, "It is meaningful that LG Innotek supplies the new

product with the best performance and quality by developing its core materials

in a short period of time using innovative technology. We will continue to

provide differentiated values to customers with the eco magnet."

For more information about LG Innotek, please refer to the website:

www.lginnotek.com

SOURCE: LG Innotek

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=400634

   Caption: The ‘eco magnet’developed by LG Innotek. This product has secured the world's

strongest magnet-ic performance while minimizing the use of heavy rare-earth

metals. The eco magnet can help stabi-lize the supply of raw materials and

reduce the weight of vehicles. It can also result in clear high-definition

photos by improving the driving power of smartphone cameras by about 10%.