The Department of Defense (DOD) has announced that it will invest in a defense supply-chain assessment, to be performed by Thomas & Skinner, Inc., regarding the requirement for competitive domestic neodymium-iron-boron (neo) magnets or their substitutes to support defense supply-chain manufacturing capability. Neo magnets are essential elements in several military weapons components, including missile guidance systems, bomb fuses and satellite communication devices, which are critical to US national security.
“China currently produces about 75 percent of the world’s neo magnets, not including other unlicensed production,” said Vern Detlef, president and CEO of Thomas & Skinner. “The Department’s investment into our research represents the ideal type of partnership in a first step toward re-establishing a competitive supply of domestically produced neo magnets.”
Thomas & Skinner, a producer of high performance magnetic materials, has extensive experience with the sintering process and is one of the few US companies currently sintering non-neo permanent magnets.
