LG Innotek developed the world's strongest 'ECO Magnet'
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%.
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