Better-grade units high on NdFeB magnets agenda

Companies adopt advanced manufacturing techniques to boost magnetic performance. Sintered and bonded types make up the line, with the former still leading output.

Wide adoption of NdFeB magnets in the fast-expanding new energy sector spurs efforts to upgrade the line in China. Suppliers employ two-stage sintering to bolster the magnetic performance of sintered types, while the main technique used in anisotropic bonded NdFeB magnets is still hydrogenation, disproportionation, desorption and recombination or HDDR. The former type continues to account for more than 90 percent of local production.

For differentiation, Shanxi Huiqiang uses a tempering technique, for which it acquired a patent in the US, to turn out better-grade sintered neodymium magnets. Chengdu Galaxy Magnet, the largest maker of anisotropic bonded types in China, utilizes own-devised method.

Manufacturers keep their sights on the climbing requirement in the electric vehicle or EV and wind turbine markets. These applications have been driving the category's accelerated growth in recent years, and are expected to provide more opportunities in the near term.

Global installed capacity of wind turbines is projected to grow by more than 10 percent yearly until 2020. Locally, the annual increase is anticipated to approach 14 percent, which will bring the total of newly installed capacity to about 268.2 million kW by 2020, according to China.com. The domestic EV market, which almost tripled in sales volume in 2015, is likely to achieve the same rate by this year's end based on estimates of the China Automobile Industry Association.

NdFeB magnet makers expect these sectors to deliver revenue growth surpassing 20 percent by end-2016, encouraging most to prepare for an output increase. Magsuper (Dongguan) Corp., which posted 10 percent greater sales in the past year, is looking to exceed that in the next 12 months as it bolsters export shipments.

There are up to 300 makers in the line in China now, according to ChinaIOL, a specialized research company. This is an increase from 200 in 2015. More than 80 percent is locally owned.

Manufacturers that turn out sintered varieties constitute over 60 percent of the pool. Others, including Beijing Zhongke Sanhuan, offer the kind and its bonded versions.

As many as 20 suppliers have more than 3,000-ton annual production capacity, covering sintered and bonded types.

The key production bases are in the coastal provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, with the greater number in the cities of Dongguan in the first, and Ningbo and Hengdian in Zhejiang.

Major player Galaxy Magnet operates in Chengdu, Sichuan province in central China, while Zhongke Sanhuan has subsidiaries in Ningbo, Tianjing, Zhaoqiang, Shanghai and Nanjing, besides the one in Beijing.

China is the world's largest producer of NdFeB magnets, with shipments making up two-thirds of the total.