Recycling and Enrichment of Rare Earth Based Permanent Magnet Scraps

Abstract

The trade dominance of China in the rare earth industry, 33.8% reserves, and 70% of the production of rare earths jeopardize the continuity of strategic applications with high-Added value. Another and more important problem is that the mining of rare-earth elements is harmful to the environment. A considerable amount of rare-earth elements could be recycled back to the industry with the right recycling procedure while protecting the environment and providing economic benefits. In this work, using powder metallurgy methods, the rare-earth-based permanent magnet-containing devices currently in scrap yards were recycled. Recycling ferro magnets materials such as iron, strontium hexaferrite (SrFe12O19), and Neodymium Iron Boron (Nd-Fe-B) attract the attention of the industry. The rich source of SrFe12O19 and Nd2Fe14B in scrap yards are electric motors and hard disks, respectively. Separated SrFe12O19 and Nd2Fe14B magnets were cleaned, crushed, pulverized, recompacted, and magnetized. This study aims to reach 100% density recycled permanent magnets with magnetic properties comparable to commercial counterparts.