Will Nd–Fe–B Magnets be Competitive Against Ferrites in the Automotive Industry?

A design study has been carried out to assess the benefits obtainable from substituting Nd–Fe–B for ferrite in permanent magnet motors used for automotive applications. It is concluded that the benefits obtained from use of Nd–Fe–B magnets are less than would be expected from the energy ratios of the two materials and that the weight savings obtained cannot be justified in terms of cost owing to the greatly increased price of rare earth magnetic materials. It is thus predicted that ferrites will remain the dominant magnet material in these applications for the foreseeable future, possibly even becoming more competitive as manufacturing techniques are refined, while use of Nd–Fe–B materials will be restricted to a few niche applications where the cost penalties are justified by improved performance. PM/0469