Scientists Manufacture Material in a Lab That Doesn't Exist on Earth (npr.org) 62
NPR reports that "two teams of scientists — one at Northeastern University in Boston; the other at the University of Cambridge in the UK — recently announced that they managed to manufacture, in a lab, a material that does not exist naturally on Earth."
"It — until now — has only been found in meteorites." We spoke to Laura Henderson Lewis, one of the professors on the Northeastern team, and she told us the material found in the meteorites is a combination of two base metals, nickel and iron, which were cooled over millions of years as meteoroids and asteroids tumbled through space. That process created a unique compound with a particular set of characteristics that make it ideal for use in the high-end permanent magnets that are an essential component of a vast range of advanced machines, from electric vehicles to space shuttle turbines.
The compound is called tetrataenite, and the fact that scientists have found a way to make it in a lab is a huge deal. If synthetic tetrataenite works in industrial applications, it could make green energy technologies significantly cheaper. It could also roil the market in rare earths, currently dominated by China, and create a seismic shift in the industrial balance between China and the West....
But it will be a long time before tetrataenite is in a position to disrupt any existing markets, Laura Lewis says. She says there is still a lot of testing to be done to find out whether lab tetrataenite is as hardy and as useful as the outer space material. And even if it turns out to be as good, it will be five to eight years "pedal to the metal" before anyone could make permanent magnets out of it. In the meantime, China's competitors are working hard to source rare earths of their own. The US is investing in mines in Australia; there's exploration ongoing in Malaysia, and the Japanese are researching ways to extract elements from mud mined from the sea bed.
"It — until now — has only been found in meteorites." We spoke to Laura Henderson Lewis, one of the professors on the Northeastern team, and she told us the material found in the meteorites is a combination of two base metals, nickel and iron, which were cooled over millions of years as meteoroids and asteroids tumbled through space. That process created a unique compound with a particular set of characteristics that make it ideal for use in the high-end permanent magnets that are an essential component of a vast range of advanced machines, from electric vehicles to space shuttle turbines.
The compound is called tetrataenite, and the fact that scientists have found a way to make it in a lab is a huge deal. If synthetic tetrataenite works in industrial applications, it could make green energy technologies significantly cheaper. It could also roil the market in rare earths, currently dominated by China, and create a seismic shift in the industrial balance between China and the West....
But it will be a long time before tetrataenite is in a position to disrupt any existing markets, Laura Lewis says. She says there is still a lot of testing to be done to find out whether lab tetrataenite is as hardy and as useful as the outer space material. And even if it turns out to be as good, it will be five to eight years "pedal to the metal" before anyone could make permanent magnets out of it. In the meantime, China's competitors are working hard to source rare earths of their own. The US is investing in mines in Australia; there's exploration ongoing in Malaysia, and the Japanese are researching ways to extract elements from mud mined from the sea bed.
a Lab That Doesn't Exist on Earth (Score:5, Funny)
So, where is this lab located, if it doesn't exist on earth?
In orbit? On the moon? On Mars?
The ambiguity of the English language is fun, especially when combined with dyslexia.
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Re:a Lab That Doesn't Exist on Earth (Score:5, Informative)
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Well if they made it then it obviously exists...
so maybe it should state "did not previously exist on earth" or at least "did not exist"
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Even then, the correct ordering should be..."Scientists Manufacture Material That Doesn't Exist on Earth in a Lab." Or "In a Lab Scientists Manufacture Material That Doesn't Exist on Earth."
Scientists Manufacture in a Lab Material That Doesn't Exist on Earth
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Maybe the lab exists neither on earth nor anywhere else.
Re: a Lab That Doesn't Exist on Earth (Score:3)
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One of the things we were promised about space stations was that stuff could be manufactured in zero g that could never be made on earth. I don't know how far they got with that.
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I don't think they've done much yet. There is a company developing empty "satellite labs" capable of deorbitting themselves and landing gently for that reason though. The name escapes me, but the idea is that they'll offer a stop-gap solution to jumpstart the research phase so that companies can confirm such materials' properties, and fine-tune the production process, before considering building a dedicated orbital manufacturing plant.
The basic problem is that a lot of the stuff you can only make in orbit
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The ambiguity of a title written with poor English skills is fun, especially when combined with dyslexia.
FTFY
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So, where is this lab located, if it doesn't exist on earth? In orbit? On the moon? On Mars?
In the Metaverse.
A material that does not exist naturally on earth? (Score:5, Insightful)
Like, say, plastic?
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plastic exists naturally on earth now. our legacy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re:A material that does not exist naturally on ear (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of materials do not naturally exist on Earth. But many of them can fairly easily be manufactured from materials that exist on Earth. Like you can drill for fossil oil to make plastics from it. You can harvest suited plant natter to make more sustainable plastics from it and so froth.
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Making crystalized iron is not easy.
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Remind yourself that we've had issues manufacturing amorphous metals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Disregarding the different possible lattice structures that are possible: Mono-crystalline iron? Certainly not that easy. Poly-crystalline iron? Happens all the time.
Re: A material that does not exist naturally on ea (Score:4, Insightful)
Seems like "material" should be replaced with "alloy", which would clarify things. Material is an extremely broad word. Even alloy is broad since the same combination of alloys can produce different structures depending upon how they're combined and in what ratios (this case being an example).
Even so, the implication (as I read it) is that this is a first - making an alloy that doesn't otherwise exist in earth. Is that really true? I haven't heard of natural bronze ore, or stainless steel mines. Seems like we've been making unnatural alloys for a long time.
Based on this story I think I'd title it: "Scientists develop technique to manufacture important alloy only found in meteorites."
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I can't imagine any natural process that led to plutonium-gallium alloy.
Re: A material that does not exist naturally on ea (Score:5, Interesting)
It's more than an alloy, the combination of nickel and iron is not interesting. It's the crystal structure that is interesting. Meteorites cool very slowly in space, which allows iron to crystalize.
"iron meteorites that contain taenite are slow-cooled at a rate of a few degrees per million years, which allows for ordering of the Fe and Ni atoms"
In Washington DC there's a great exhibit of meteorites in the Smithsonian that really lets you see it.
Re: A material that does not exist naturally on e (Score:2)
But alloys are also not just mixtures, they have crystal structures that can be changed depending upon other impurities and how they're cooled. This seems like an alloy with a crystal structure that is difficult to achieve. But we make weird crystal structures in alloys all the time, and I'm sure not all of them occur naturally on Earth.
A simple example for steel:
https://llfurnace.com/blog/cry... [llfurnace.com]
What's cool (pun intended) about the reported work is that this is an alloy that (mostly) exists only in space be
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Even then, replace "only found in" with "rarely found outside". According to Wikipedia a small deposit was found in natural Earth rocks in 2015.
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Stainless steel (a nickle-iron alloy) isn't super hard to make. The article says "material" because it's not the alloy, it's the crystal structure that's special.
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Even so, the implication (as I read it) is that this is a first - making an alloy that doesn't otherwise exist in earth.
I don't see any such claim in the story.
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It's a distinct crystalline form with tetragonal symmetry - which is not common for metallic elements that mostly have a variant on a cubic crystalline form. As such, it's less than surprising that it has unusual magnetic properties. From a symmetry point of view, the magnetic axis and 4-fold crystallographic axis would have to be aligned. If the crystal habit is noticeably different along
Re: A material that does not exist naturally on ea (Score:2)
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Plastic does exist naturally on earth in the form of amber.
Don't ring true! (Score:2)
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if it takes a million years to cool slowly enough to form in the vacuum of space, then the trick may be how to speed that up. The snag may be similar to early days of artificially made diamonds, the process is easy but the ramping up to manufacturing in large enough amounts to be useful is the tough part.
Cool, but where's the problem again? (Score:3)
And even if it turns out to be as good, it will be five to eight years "pedal to the metal" before anyone could make permanent magnets out of it.
Lithium. Helium. Peak oil. Natural gas. I've heard a lot of arguments regarding our challenges for making the things we need from the resources we have, but since when are we facing challenges with magnets?
I've heard exactly no one screaming about any of the components that make up neodymium, and we still buy and use them everywhere for dirt cheap. What exactly is the problem we're trying to solve here, other than selling "not of this earth" sci-fi clickbait headlines?
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Re:Cool, but where's the problem again? (Score:4, Informative)
They're just terribly expensive and unclean to produce, because they tend to not concentrate.
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What exactly is the problem we're trying to solve here, other than selling "not of this earth" sci-fi clickbait headlines?
If the magnets are stronger then neodymium then all our motors will be a more powerful without getting any larger or consuming more electricity.
Re:Cool, but where's the problem again? (Score:4, Informative)
Update: I just looked it up and it's not as strong as neodymium.
It's claim to fame is that it could be a lot cheaper.
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Update: I just looked it up and it's not as strong as neodymium.
It's claim to fame is that it could be a lot cheaper.
Cheaper than neodymium at...wait how much a pound? How strong is that damn thing the size of a hockey puck? It can take my finger off for only three easy payments if $14.99?
The market prices and landfills full of hard drive magnets tend to confirm just how "rare" current solutions really are. We don't charge hardly shit for it, and we recycle it with even less fever. Must be some obscenely-sized subsidies going to neodymium mining we don't know about.
Why do I see the "advanced" (yet weaker) "space magne
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We tend to be really short sighted sometimes. I don't think "we aren't being careful with a non-renewable resource" and "we aren't recycling it much" correlate with "we will run out of this soon".
See: Water in the west.
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So there maybe other motivations to find alternatives made from abundant materials for mass production than just on the face monetary "cost".
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Power is power is power is power.
There is no free lunch.
a 1kW motor upgraded to a 2kW motor with stronger magnets that allow you to do the same thing in the same sized package will still require 2kW(+loss) of power to drive.
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Have you heard of electric vehicles? or wind turbines.... Things essential to our future are in short supply. And nearly all come from China.
https://www.allaboutcircuits.c... [allaboutcircuits.com]
https://www.stanfordmagnets.co... [stanfordmagnets.com]
https://physicstoday.scitation... [scitation.org]
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I can only imagine the amount of sheer hypocrisy that would be spewing violently from our exalted threat-to-democracy peddlers had former President Trump made such a racist xenophobic move against the Asian manufacturing community we so dearly depend on.
Actually I think everyone recognizes we are far too reliant on China. We have seen recently what happens to people who relied on Russia, another shithole dictatorship with delusions of grandeur. Fortunately we are slowly moving to diversify our trade with more places, but it will take time. No big deal if consumer toys are dominated by China, but for important things we need to be much more self-sufficient.
The article mentions new investments in Australia. Canada is poised and ready to help too;
ht [www.cbc.ca]
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1) Cheap enough for personal use in small quantities is NOT the same as cheap on an industrial level. A Buckyball toy has ounces of magnet, a wind turbine will have hundreds of pounds, which brings us to point 2
2) Renewables and electric vehicle usage is steadily increasing every year. So the usage of rare earth magnets will continue to balloon over the next decade or so. Which brings us to the most critical point in all of this.
3) Geo Politics. The majority of rare
Re:Cool, but where's the problem again? (Score:5, Informative)
any of the components that make up neodymium
Neodymium makes up neodymium.
Re: Cool, but where's the problem again? (Score:3)
Re: Cool, but where's the problem again? (Score:4, Funny)
Those wily Chinese are trying to corner the market in electrons. I think I've heard a few rumors to this effect. In fact, I'm positive.
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If, if, could, could, might, may,... (Score:2)
In other words, so what? Lab curiosity. Cool. Nothing more.
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It's a crystal.
Plastic? (Score:4, Informative)
Didn't exist on earth.
Like synthetic rubber in the 30's (Score:3)
With China soon to enter Russia's zone of international pariah-ship, with their pending assault on Taiwan, this could become a very important discovery.
Rarely found (Score:2)
Wikipedia says:
In 2015, it was reported that tetrataenite was found in a terrestrial rock – a magnetite body from the Indo-Myanmar ranges of northeast India.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
New name? (Score:2)
So instead of Unobtainium we now need to call it Noteasilyobtainedium?
Man-made (Score:3)
Next up: Dilithium ore (Score:2)
We gotta go warp 9.5 and get as far away from this planet as fast as we can. Mash those buttons Data and make the ship go!
Dare I say, Unobtainium? (Score:1)