BIO

Chaochao Pan joined Ames National Laboratory in 2023 as a postdoctoral fellow. He received his Bachelor of Science in Material Physics in 2015 from Nanjing University and his Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering in 2023 from Iowa State University. His research interest lies in conductor materials, nano-twinned materials, and permanent magnets.

ABSTRACT

Neodymium Iron Boron (NdFeB) magnets are the strongest at room temperature. However, the ones made by the traditional sintering method require Dysprosium (Dy) to improve their performance at elevated temperatures, a common environment in motor applications. Dy is an expensive element and it has high supply risk. The hot-roll method developed in Ames lab solves the reliance on Dy by constructing a highly aligned and nanosized grain structure. In addition, hot-rolling is a continuous process that produces the magnets in minutes instead of hours, as in the sintering method. The hot-roll method significantly reduces the material and time cost of manufacturing NdFeB magnets.