Nd-Fe-B permanent magnet developer wins 2022 QEPrize

The Nd-Fe-B magnet is the world’s most powerful permanent magnet, described by the QEPrize Foundation as ‘transformational’ in its contribution towards enabling cleaner, energy saving technologies.

Dr Sagawa led the development and commercialisation of the sintered rare-earth permanent magnet for which he received the prize, awarded annually to celebrate engineering’s critical role in global society.

He created a new compound formed by replacing scarce and expensive cobalt and samarium with more abundant and cheaper iron and neodymium, at the same time introducing boron to improve the magnetic properties — the first step in delivering high performance to a mass market.

Sagawa then led research and development in the 1980s and early 1990s to successfully overcome the issues of sudden reduction of magnetic coercivity at high temperature, most notably by adding dysprosium (Dy) to improve heat resistance. This led to development of high-volume manufacturing techniques, commercialising the innovation.

For even wider applications, he continued to develop novel techniques for reducing the amount of dysprosium or even eliminating its use to help preserve natural resources. The result was a new magnet for the mass market that almost doubled performance of the previous best and successfully turned Nd-Fe-B magnets into a viable industrial material.