Material Empire

Japan.

In the large meeting room of Chunshan Magnetic Materials Co., Ltd., there was a lot of laughter, and the celebration of the successful mass production of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy permanent magnet materials was being held. The president, Miyagawa, was standing at one end of the conference table, constantly bowing to his subordinates who had made great contributions. How could those subordinates dare to accept such etiquette, and they bowed even more in return. A group of people in the meeting room are like the aunts who dance in the square dance in the later generations, repeating zombie-like bowing movements constantly.

"Mr. Hirano, we were able to grasp the new technology of dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy in time. Your contribution is the greatest. On behalf of the board of directors, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to you." Miyagawa said to the technical director Sadao Hirano.

Sadao Hirano quickly said: "President, you are too polite. This is the result of your wise decision. My contribution is insignificant."

"Mr. Changyou, thank you for your outstanding contribution in the procurement of dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide. Your excellent work has made our company's operations no longer subject to the influence of rare earth price fluctuations and gained the initiative in the market." Miyagawa bowed again to the Procurement Minister Eiji Nagatomo.

"This is what I should do." Changyou Yongsi stood up and returned the salute, with a proud expression on his face.

Miyagawa then expressed his gratitude to the heads of production, sales and other departments, and hinted that everyone would get a special bonus at the end of the year. Chicken pecking rice is average. Some of the heads were already bald and shiny, and when they shook, they looked like searchlights flickering, and they felt quite beautiful.

After delivering the thank-you speech, Miyagawa began to deliver a long speech:

"The Chinese lack technical foresight. They have discovered a promising permanent magnet material such as dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy by chance, but they don't realize the value of this material. In the past two years, they have not made any research on dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy. Instead, we are satisfied with assimilating the past NdFeB technology exchanged from us. Using this period of time, we have completed the research on the performance and production process of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy, and successfully achieved mass production.

Through the unremitting efforts of the sales team led by Mr. Okazaki, we have made more than 70 major permanent magnet material users around the world realize the value of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy materials. At present, 35 companies have signed purchase intentions with us. The total amount of intention is..."

Having said that, Miyagawa turned his head and glanced at Saburo Okazaki, the sales director. Saburo Okazaki got up quickly and responded: "President, as of this morning, the total amount of intended purchases for dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy magnetic materials is 270 million US dollars. , which is equivalent to approximately 22 billion yen. According to our estimation, this is only a preliminary sales result, because users are not yet fully convinced of the performance of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy, and after they try it, the purchase amount should increase by at least 3 times."

"This is a very remarkable sales result." Miyagawa concluded, "According to the joint forecast of the technical department and the sales department, although the price of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy is higher than that of neodymium-iron-boron, due to its excellent performance, it is bound to be able to be sold in an all-round way. Replace NdFeB and become the new mainstream permanent magnet material. At present, our Chunshan Club has an absolute leading edge in this field, and this market with annual sales of no less than 1 billion US dollars must belong to us. China Daqin Group was the first Dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy materials were invented, but they are still indulging in the joy of selling tens of millions of dollars of neodymium-iron-boron materials every year."

"Hahahaha!" Everyone laughed together, and several executives even stood up from their seats, twisting their fat bodies and dancing an unknown Japanese dance. The Japanese character looks very restrained on the surface, but when they become crazy, they are extremely exaggerated. Perhaps it is because they are usually too depressed, so once they have the opportunity to let go, they will double their publicity.

Amidst the commotion, Sadao Hirano suddenly felt a slight vibration from the pager stuck on his belt. He looked down, his face changed slightly, he got up quickly and walked a few steps, and came to Miyagawa Masa's side. He leaned down and said in a low voice: "President, our laboratory called me, maybe there is an emergency situation, I have to leave the meeting temporarily to take a look."

This kind of meeting chaired by the president, if there are no special circumstances, the subordinates dare not be absent casually or leave in the middle of the meeting. Since Sadao Hirano proposed to leave the meeting, it is natural that there is an urgent matter. This is exactly what Miyagawa can do. understand. He nodded and said, "You go first."

Sadao Hirano left the venue and was about to rush to the laboratory, but saw his assistant Nakagawa Motohisa standing outside the venue waiting for him. Nakagawa Motohisa was holding a magazine in his hand, with an eager expression on his face, seeing Sadao Hirano coming out, he strode forward and shouted: "Hirano-kun, it's not good, something serious happened! "

"What?" Sadao Hirano frowned. He could see that Nakagawa Motohisa was holding a copy of "Journal of Magnetic Materials", not some kind of experimental report, that is to say, Nakagawa Motohisa called him out of the meeting, just wanted him to read Academic papers, which annoyed him. How important is the matter of reading the paper, can't we wait until the meeting is over?

"Hirano-kun, read this article. I believe you will understand what's going on after reading it." Nakagawa Motohisa opened the magazine to a certain page and handed it to Sadao Hirano.

Sadao Hirano took the magazine impatiently, and casually glanced at the title on that page: "Preparation and performance analysis of cerium-based rare earth permanent magnet materials". He didn't react for a while, and muttered: "Isn't it just the performance analysis of rare earth permanent magnet materials, what are you making a fuss about? Cerium-based... what, cerium-based!"

When the word "cerium base" was pronounced again, Sadao Hirano only felt a flash of inspiration in his mind, and couldn't help shivering. He has made rare earth permanent magnet materials for many years, so the concept of rare earth is very familiar to him, and it is not enough to arouse his excitement. However, the word "cerium-based" is completely different, because he understands too well what it means to prepare rare earth permanent magnet materials with cerium as the basic element.

Rare earth is a collective term for a series of metal elements. For the same rare earth, different elements have different accumulations on the surface of the earth, and the difficulty of mining is also very different. This determines that the prices of different rare earths may vary greatly. Among the NdFeB materials first developed by Chunshan Company, the most important element is rare earth neodymium, which is a rare earth element with a medium price. Later, Daqin Group and Chunshan Company exchanged the formula of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy. This new type of permanent magnet material requires the use of rare earth dysprosium and terbium, which are two relatively expensive elements.

Since dysprosium and terbium are mainly produced from ion-adsorbed rare earth deposits, which are unique to the hilly and mountainous areas of southern China, the prices and market supply of these two elements are completely controlled by the Chinese. After transferring the formula of dysprosium-terbium-ferroalloy to Chunshan Company, the Daqin Group, which monopolizes the mining and trade of heavy rare earths in China, raised the prices of dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide hundreds of times, causing Chunshan Company to bear a huge financial burden. .

Through the rare earth-for-steel agreement, Chunshan Company purchased a sufficient amount of dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide from Daqin Group. It thought that it could no longer be constrained by the resources of the Chinese people, and let it go big, and make a big difference in the new permanent magnet material market. Earn back your losses. However, if the concept of cerium-based materials comes out, it will be enough to push Chunshan Company into the abyss at once.

Cerium is the cheapest of all rare earth elements. Even before Qinhai fully raised the price of heavy rare earths, the price difference between cerium and dysprosium in the international market was more than 50 times. One in the sky and one in the ground. At present, the price of one kilogram of dysprosium oxide on the market can almost buy several tons of cerium oxide.

If cerium can also be used to produce permanent magnet materials, even if the performance is worse than that of neodymium-iron-boron and dysprosium-terbium-iron alloys, its absolute price advantage will make the latter two materials face extinction.

"When was this article published, and who was the author?" Sadao Hirano asked loudly. He was completely confused at this time, and he looked down at the magazine's issue and the author's name and forgot.

"This is a magazine that just came out. The author of this article is... Sun Yuzhi." Nakagawa Motojiu said with a bitter face.

"Sun Yuzhi..." Sadao Hirano was taken aback, "Didn't he study dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy? How could..."

Speaking of this, a very terrible conjecture emerged in his mind. He didn't continue, but flipped through the article in a hurry. From the clear analysis and sufficient data proof, he confirmed his own It is conjectured that the Chinese have mastered this technology for a long time. This is not an article introducing a new discovery, but an article that fully explains the properties of materials and the methods of material preparation.

"Have you inquired about the patent application status of cerium-based materials?" Sadao Hirano asked Motohisa Nakagawa.

"Yes." Nakagawa Motohisa and Hirano Sadao have also worked together for many years, and they can understand each other's thoughts with just one sentence. He nodded and said: "After I saw this article, I immediately called to ask Both the Japan Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office claim that they have received patent applications from China for cerium-based permanent magnet materials, and China Daqin Group has submitted 25 patent applications at one time.”

"I understand, I understand everything." Sadao Hirano only felt dizzy, and the joy in the venue just now disappeared all of a sudden. The Daqin Group is not short-sighted. The reason why they did not invest in the ferrodysprosium and terbium alloys is that they have already mastered the alternative technology. As soon as this technology came out, the ferrodysprosium and terbium alloys were completely swept into the dustbin of history.