From Here to 2050: The Bright Future for Permanent Magnet Materials
by Dr Steve Constantinides of Magnetics & Materials LLC

(via Skype) We’ve all heard a great deal about the current state of the magnetics industry and applications that use magnetic materials. Forecasts have been issued for selected market segments but are generally limited to five or ten years – truthfully, it is difficult to forecast even that far in advance and most material and application developments require that much time to happen. But what will the market and industry be like in a few decades? Can we make some estimates regarding the world of 2050? Let’s try to do so.

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Computing, Software and CAD Systems
by Prof Jan Sykulski of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton

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Legal & Geopolitics
by Prof Robert Lee of Law School, University of Birmingham

This paper considers issues of trade in and stockpiling of critical materials and strategic elements and associated questions of World Trade Law.

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Opportunities for Magnetics Supply Chain in Automotive Electrification
by Mr Dave OudeNijeweme of APC

The presentation is aimed to discuss the rapidly changing nature of automotive propulsion and the impact this is likely to have on the various forms of magnetics. I will discuss this from the perspective of the its potential importance to the UK economy. After a brief introduction of the automotive technology roadmaps for e-machines I will discuss the forecast of electric vehicles globally, in the EU and UK and how this translates into a significant increase in demand for magnetics for automotive applications. Focussing on specific elements of the e-machine valuechain, I am intending to discuss the specific opportunities around UK magnetic material production and the potential importance of this to the UK economy. Secondly, I will discuss the automotive industries growing need for a secure supply of sustainable rare earth materials and how this translates into a potentially significant opportunity around refining, recycling and re-refining of magnets. I will conclude by briefly explaining the role of the Advanced Propulsion Centre helping to ensure that the UK remains competitive in automotive propulsion technology and manufacturing.

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Machines and Motors
by Dr Glynn Atkinson of Newcastle University

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Soft Magnetic Materials
by Mr Mark Cichuta of Cogent

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Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording – the Next Revolution in Data Storage
by Prof Robert Bowman of Queen's University Belfast

Information storage is critical to our society in the 21st Century. Every one of us, online, has an interaction with the ‘cloud’ whereby data from all computing and social interactions is held in large data centres. The rate that we are generating, storing and processing this data increases at astonishing rate; year on year. However, the underpinning technology to provide increased data storage at a dependable cost is reaching a limit. Despite having been an astonishing platform for scientific and engineering innovation (e.g. incorporating the Nobel Prize winning science of giant magnetoresistance a few years after the initial discovery) the current hard disk drive and its conventional magnetic write/read approach will not be able to deliver the data storage densities (areal density) over the next few years to meet the demands of cloud computing. In this talk we will review the current perpendicular magnetic recording technology and identify the key factors that limit increased areal density. We will discuss in some detail the structure and function of the read-write head – the nanoscale transducer that writes/reads data to/from the disk. We will see that the limiting effect on increased areal density is writing the magnetic data to a disk. A number of possible solutions will be briefly considered. However, the current chosen method is heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). HAMR heralds a new paradigm in magnetic data storage whereby electromagnetic energy is used to heat the disk surface to above the media Curie temperature to facilitate writing at increasing densities whilst providing the thermal stability for long term data storage of the written bits. HAMR will see the incorporation of a light source such as laser, a waveguide and a near field transducer, employing plasmonic material, to deliver the electromagnetic energy, in the near-field, to the disk. The scientific and engineering challenges and opportunities to realise HAMR will be identified. The talk will be illustrated by information from Seagate Technology – the global leader in data storage who from their Springtown base in Northern Ireland produce 25% of the global supply of read/write heads and undertake some 40% of the companies recording head R&D there.

Ewing - The Emerging Future of Energy and Transport
by Mr Robert Llewellyn of

Robert Llewellyn has been interested in sustainable technology and more recently electric cars for most of his adult life. He produces and presents a long running YouTube channel called 'Fully Charged.' The series not only focuses on the rapidly emerging electric vehicle landscape, it also covers areas such as renewable energy, grid level storage, smart grids, battery manufacture, electric motor designs and many other related topics. In the Ewing, Robert will report from the many companies, university research departments and government committees he’s attended. He will discuss the disruptive nature of new technology, illustrating why a disruption to the status quo is never all benign, but how economics as well as climate change and air quality is driving the change at dizzying speed.

Next Generation Graphene for Magnetic Sensing Applications
by Mr Ivor Guiney of Paragraf Ltd

Graphene is a so-called wonder material, the discoverers of which were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2010. It has been long-speculated for use in many applications due to its high conductivity, flexibility and lightweight properties. In particular, it is over 200 times more conductive than copper and is stronger than stainless steel. These phenomenal properties have given rise to a plethora of applications proved in research laboratories, such as ultra-fast electronic devices, highly wear-resistant graphene compounds, biomedical devices, molecular filters and many more. In particular, the intrinsic properties of graphene lends it to ultra-sensitivity towards magnetic fields. Commercial uptake of graphene has focused on introducing graphene solutions into paints, composites, rubbers, etc. to make them more wear resistant and thermally conductive. The lack of any commercial graphene electronic devices stems from the fact that, simply, there is a complete lack of high-quality, reproducible graphene on attractive substrates without significant material contamination, in a cost-effective process. Paragraf, a recent spin-out from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science, has solved these issues. In addition to direct graphene formation on electronic substrates, the graphene material produced exhibits uniformity, yield and batch-to-batch reproducibility in line with existing electronic material processes, a requirement for mass production. The first of Paragraf’s development devices is a Hall effect magnetic sensor, which has many uses from consumer goods to high-end applications in medical, automotive and military industries, to name but a few. This talk will focus on Paragraf’s developments in this sphere, along with future technologies and company progress.

Future of Electricty Distribution and Grid Technologies
by Mr Darren Jones of ABB Power Grids Division, UK

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