| Abstract Scope |
A stable and secure supply of raw materials is necessary for proper functioning of our modern society. These supply related concerns have lately been addressed by the concept of raw materials criticality, where rare earth elements have been classified as critical materials due to their key role in most of today’s hi-tech applications (ranging from information technology & telecommunication to renewable energy technologies), and their potential high supply risk. In order to reduce raw materials criticality, a number of solutions have been considered in the past, such as stockpiling, diversifying supply and increasing recycling. More recently, circular economy is seen as a system to reduce criticality by keeping the materials in economy for longer time period, through using strategies such as reusing, refurbishing, remanufacturing and recycling. This talk is aimed at exploring challenges and opportunities related to these strategies for rare earths based permanent magnets, i.e., neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets. |