May 8 2008
Neo Material Technologies Inc. announced today that after approximately one year of research and development, its Magnequench division has now completed its "No Cobalt" powder product line.
These new powder grades - MQP-B3, MQP-15-7A, and MQP-16-7A - are made from alloys that do not contain cobalt. The price of cobalt on the London Metal Exchange recently surpassed $50 per pound, representing an increase of more than 100% over the past 9 months, which has been driven by increased demand for batteries and from the growth in emerging economies.
This cost increase has already prompted other magnet companies to increase the price for cobalt containing ferrite and rare earth based magnetic materials. The new No Cobalt powders have comparable magnetic performances to their equivalent cobalt-containing powder grades within Magnequench's broad product portfolio. Because these new grades do not rely on cobalt to achieve their high magnetic performance, the No Cobalt powders have lower costs and are therefore well situated to compete with certain ferrite magnet grades that employ high cost cobalt to upgrade their magnet and motor performance.
The No Cobalt powders will enhance Magnequench's competitive position as it continues to execute its ferrite replacement strategy for new business in several end markets, such as the automotive and "white goods" home appliance markets. Moreover, these powders will enable Magnequench to reduce its consumption of this high cost alloying element, and ultimately improve theoverall cost position for Magnequench's product portfolio. Magnequench has been developing the No Cobalt powder line for the past 12 months and will continue to develop new lower cost grades, as required by the market.
This development effort comes on the back of the commercialization and launch of MQP-13-9R2: a lower-cost, cobalt-free powder grade which offers improved cost performance over previous MQP-13-9 type grades.
"I am pleased with the efforts and progress of our scientists in the development of the highly advanced No Cobalt powder," noted Constantine Karayannopoulos, President and CEO.
"Our research and development team continues to focus on the development of highly advanced materials for the evolving electronics, automotive and certain advanced consumer goods markets. Our customers have been quick to accept the new products, and some grades are already being used in mass production."
Posted May 8th,2008