Major Application Areas
The global neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry has a wide range of applications in several important industrial fields. In the automotive industry, neodymium-iron-boron magnets are used in various motor and sensor components of automobiles, helping automobiles achieve efficient power transmission and precise performance control. In the computer industry, key components such as hard disk drives rely on neodymium-iron-boron magnets to realize functions like rapid data reading and writing. In the magnetic resonance imaging industry, its powerful magnetism can provide the necessary magnetic field conditions for accurate imaging. In the optical disc industry, neodymium-iron-boron magnets contribute to the stable operation of optical disc read/write heads and ensure the accuracy of data reading and writing. In the machine tool industry, they can be applied to motors and other parts to improve the machining accuracy and working efficiency of machine tools.
Development Characteristics and Trends in Different Countries
China:
China's neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry is developing rapidly, and its technological level is constantly improving. It occupies the largest market share in Asia. In the past few years, China and Japan have jointly invested a lot of manpower and material resources in the development of magnetic powder production technology, focusing on improving the temperature tolerance of magnetic powder. However, in terms of magnet forming technology, except for Aichi Steel in Japan, the overall technology is far from mature, which has greatly hindered the further promotion and application of such magnets. In the future, the development of this industry in China will focus on high-performance, low-cost magnetic powder and cost-effective forming technology. Moreover, high-performance, low-cost domestic magnetic powder is expected to play an important role in the industry. According to the previous market research data of the Lingdong Core Industrial Research Center, the market demand for neodymium-iron-boron magnets in China is 115,300 tons, and it is predicted that the market demand will increase to 163,300 tons by 2022.
United States:
The permanent magnet market in the United States is similar to that in Japan, with an average annual growth rate of 12.1% in the past five years. Among them, bonded neodymium-iron-boron has gradually become the mainstream product in the market, with an average annual growth rate of over 20%. Its largest market is mechanical and electrical products. There are 40 permanent magnet manufacturers in the United States, and sintered and bonded magnet factories account for about half of them.
Japan:
The development of the neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnet industry in Japan and the United States has a common feature, that is, they focus on developing high-grade sintered and bonded products, and transfer some mid-range products, most low-end products and ferrite products overseas.
Overall, the global neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry continues to play an important role in major application fields. Different countries have different development priorities and trends according to their own situations. In the future, the development of high-performance and low-cost related technologies will further influence the direction of the industry.
