A British firm used artificial intelligence to develop a new magnet that does not contain rare earth elements at record speed. This advancement could revolutionize clean energy production.

Materials Nexus stated that the new magnet, named MagNex, was developed in just three months using AI, compared to the trial-and-error, slow, and resource-intensive traditional process of discovering new materials.

Permanent magnets, found in nearly all devices around us, are essential components in wind turbines, robots, and electric vehicle motors.

As the world transitions to clean energy, demand for permanent magnets is expected to rise rapidly. In the electric vehicle industry alone, the use of rare earth magnets could increase tenfold by 2030.

These magnets are typically made from rare earth minerals such as neodymium and dysprosium, which are scarce. Moreover, rare earth element production is currently concentrated in China, making supply chains vulnerable to disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions.

Mining these minerals also poses risks to local communities and the environment due to carbon emissions.

An increasing number of studies suggest that artificial intelligence could revolutionize the discovery of new materials tailored to different industrial needs.

Materials Nexus highlighted that the MagNex magnet, produced at one-fifth the material cost using AI, could also achieve a “70% reduction in material carbon emissions” compared to traditional magnets.

The company’s AI platform initially focused on magnets, identifying and analyzing over 100 million candidate compositions of rare earth-free permanent magnets to address industry challenges such as supply chain security, cost, performance, and environmental issues.

Discovering the current industry standard permanent magnet took decades, with even more time required for these products to be transformed into the ones we use today.

Materials Nexus collaborated with the Henry Royce Institute and the University of Sheffield to synthesize and test the magnet.

Iain Todd, Professor of Metallurgy and Materials Processing at the University of Sheffield, emphasized, “The combination of Materials Nexus’ approach to material discovery using AI and our world-class facilities at the Henry Royce Institute in Sheffield for advanced alloy manufacturing enabled the breathtakingly rapid development of a new magnetic material.”

This success underscores a promising future for materials and manufacturing driven by artificial intelligence. The emergence of next-generation materials through AI holds great promise for research, industry, and our planet.