Solidly promote the “Rare Earth Function+”action and add new kinetic energy to economic development.

In order to implement the strategy of making a strong country and accelerate the development of new materials, the state has set up a leading group for the development of new materials industry. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the Guide to the Development of New Materials Industry, which ushered in a new period of strategic development opportunities. Facing new opportunities,As a special functional material, how to catch up with the development of rare earth materials, the author expounds in detail the basic connotation and characteristics of “rare earth function+”,what and how to “+”rare earth function, etc.

New materials refer to new materials with excellent performance or special functions, or materials with improved performance or new functions after traditional materials are improved. Rare earth materials have special functions such as magnetism, light, electricity, catalysis and hydrogen storage, and can be added to traditional materials such as steel, aluminum, magnesium, glass and ceramics to improve performance or produce new functional materials.The rare earth industry should seize the new opportunities of historical development, meet new challenges and realize new dreams, that is, strive to realize the great vision put forward by Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China’s reform and opening up, “There is oil in the Middle East and rare earth in China, so that we must do a good job in rare earth affairs and give full play to the advantages of rare earth in China”, so that the flowers of rare earth functions can bloom.Make the “rare earth function+”action a new kinetic energy for national economic development.

First, the basic characteristics of rare earths.

Rare earth is known as the “darling” of new functional materials in the 21st century. Because of its special functions such as physics, electrochemistry, magnetism, light and electricity, it has been widely used. Rare earth has the advantages of limited supply source, large global market capacity, low degree of functional substitution and high degree of military supplies for national defense. With the development of new energy-saving and environmental technologies,The dependence of modern society on rare earth functional materials is increasing, and it has been applied in national economy and modern science. Rare earths are listed as strategic resources by many countries. In 2006, among the 35 high-tech elements announced by the US Department of Defense, 16 kinds of all rare earth elements except promethium (artificially synthesized and radioactive elements) were included, accounting for 45.7% of all high-tech elements.Among the 26 high-tech elements selected by Japan Science and Technology Department, 16 rare earth elements are all included, accounting for 61.5%. Countries all over the world vigorously carry out research on the application technology of rare earth functional materials, and there is a new breakthrough in the application of rare earth functional materials in almost 3~5 years.

The strategy of rare earth resources is mainly reflected in the functionality of rare earth materials, and functional materials and application functions need to be closely combined. How to scientifically develop and efficiently utilize the application functions of rare earth materials has become an important mission of rare earth science and technology workers.First of all, it is necessary to further recognize the three basic characteristics of rare earth, namely “three properties”:The strategy of resources, the functionality of elements and the expansibility of application functions;The second is to further understand and grasp the basic law of its functional development and application.

Strategic issues on rare earth resources.Rare earth is a non renewable strategic resource. Rare earth is the general name of 17 elements. Its mineral resources are widely distributed in nature, and the distribution of elements is different. Therefore, it is necessary to further strengthen the scientific management of rare earth resources,It can be roughly divided into strategic, critical and general, and be scientifically standardized according to elements, varieties and functions, so as to create a good market atmosphere conducive to the rational allocation of rare earth resources in the market, and realize the organic unity of rational development and efficient utilization of rare earth resources.

On the function of rare earth elements.The production of rare earth raw materials should be refined. The production links of rare earth resources such as mining, mineral processing, smelting separation and metal smelting are basically the production process of raw materials. The main products are primary products such as rare earth oxides, chlorides, rare earth metals and rare earth alloys of single element, which have not yet reflected the function of their elements,But it has a great influence on the functional materials after deep processing.Therefore, for the subsequent functional development of materials, it is necessary to refine the production by elements, improve product purity, optimize particle size composition and other functional quality indicators, so as to improve the product value and application function level of single rare earth element.

On the expansion of rare earth application function.Rare earth functional materials need to be developed into functional devices and application products.Taking rare earth permanent magnet materials as an example, the whole industry chain manufacturing process is from rare earth metals to slitting strip, magnetic powder, sintering (or bonding), blank, processing, devices, etc. to the application of functional new materials,It is also a system to develop and improve rare earth functional materials, fully reflecting the scientific management level, product functional development level and intelligent manufacturing level of enterprises.At present, some enterprises have made progress towards this goal and have reached a fairly high level,For example, the rare earth magnetic powder factory has expanded to mass production of servo motors for CNC machine tools, micro special motors for mobile phones and other high-end rare earth permanent magnetic products