【技术评论】中国：稀土垄断者

For three weeks, China has blocked shipments of rare-earth minerals to Japan, a move that has boosted the urgency of efforts to break Beijing's control of these minerals. China now produces nearly all of the world's supply of rare earths, which are crucial for a wide range of technologies, including hard drives, solar panels, and motors for hybrid vehicles.

化学元素周期表中镧系元素——镧(La)、铈(Ce)、镨(Pr)、钕(Nd)、钷(Pm)、钐(Sm)、铕(Eu)、钆(Gd)、铽(Tb)、镝(Dy)、钬(Ho)、铒(Er)、铥(Tm)、镱(Yb)、镥(Lu)，以及钪(Sc)和钇(Y)共17种元素统称为稀土。

稀土材料钕（Nd）是高效率电动机中永磁体的关键元素

中国收紧稀土出口

中国向日本禁运稀土已有三周，这使打破北京对稀土矿石的控制显得尤为紧迫。中国目前供应着全球几乎所有的稀土，而这些稀土在于硬盘，太阳能板和混合动力汽车的电动机等技术领域至关重要。

In response to China's dominance in rare-earths production, researchers are developing new materials that could either replace rare-earth minerals or decrease the need for them. But materials and technologies will likely take years to develop, and existing alternatives come with trade-offs.

针对中国在稀土生产领域的垄断，研究者们正在开发新的材料来代替稀土或减少对稀土的依赖。但是材料和技术的开发可能需要很多年，并且当前的替代材料还只是一种折衷之选。

China apparently blocked the Japan shipments in response to a territorial squabble in the South China Sea. Beijing has denied the embargo, yet the lack of supply may soon disrupt manufacturing in Japan, trade and industry minister Akihiro Ohata told reporters Tuesday.

表面上看，中国是因为南海的领土争议而停止向日本出口稀土。但是日本贸易大臣大畠章宏（Akihiro Ohata）周二告诉记者，北京当局否定了稀土禁运，不过稀土供应不足很快会对日本的制造业造成破坏。

Rare earths are comprised of 17 elements, such as terbium, which is used to make green phosphors for flat-panel TVs, lasers, and high-efficiency fluorescent lamps. Neodymium is key to the permanent magnets used to make high-efficiency electric motors. Although well over 90 percent of the minerals are produced in China, they are found in many places around the world, and, in spite of their name, are actually abundant in the earth's crust (the name is a hold-over from a 19th-century convention). In recent years, low-cost Chinese production and environmental concerns have caused suppliers outside of China to shut down operations.

稀土由17种元素组成。其中铽（Tb）可用来制造平板电视绿色磷光物，激光和高效率荧光灯。钕（Nd）是高效率电动机中永磁体的关键元素。尽管超过90%的稀土矿石都在中国生产，但是“稀土”并不稀，在地壳中有丰富的储量（“稀土”是源自19世纪的习惯称呼）。只是近年来，因为中国的低成本开发和基于环境的考虑逼迫中国以外的供应商们关停了生产。

Alternatives to rare earths exist for some technologies. One example is the induction motor used by Palo Alto, California-based Tesla Motors in its all-electric Roadster. It uses electromagnets rather than permanent rare-earth magnets. But such motors are larger and heavier than ones that use rare-earth magnets. As a rule of thumb, in small- and mid-sized motors, an electromagnetic coil can be replaced with a rare-earth permanent magnet of just 10 percent the size, which has helped make permanent magnet motors the preferred option for Toyota and other hybrid vehicle makers. In Tesla's case, the induction motor technology was worth the trade-off, giving the car higher maximum power in more conditions, a top priority for a vehicle that can rocket from zero to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds. "The cost volatility going into the rare-earth permanent magnets was a concern," says JB Straubel, Tesla's chief technology officer. "We couldn't have predicted the geopolitical tensions."

稀土永磁体电动机的替代品：异步电机

稀土的替代品存在于某些技术领域。其中一个例子就是位于加利福利亚洲帕罗奥多市特斯拉汽车公司（Tesla Motors）生产的全电动汽车Roadster使用的异步电机。它使用的是电磁铁而非稀土永磁体。但是这种电动机比使用稀土永磁体的产品更大更重。经验表明，在中小型电动机中，电磁线圈可被只有十分之一大小的稀土永磁体取代。这使得稀土永磁体发动机成为丰田公司和其它混合动力汽车厂商的最佳选择。而对于特斯拉，异步电机则是一种很好的折衷选择，使它生产的汽车拥有最好的动力优势：可以在3.7秒内加速到60英里每小时。“稀土永磁体低成本的终结令我们很忧虑，这种地缘政治紧张局势是我们始料未及的。”特斯拉的首席技术官JB Straubel说道。

More manufacturers are following Tesla's lead to shun the rare-earth materials, although the move means sacrificing space and adding weight to vehicles. A week after the China dust-up began, a research team in Japan announced they had made a hybrid vehicle motor free of rare-earth materials, and Hitachi has announced similar efforts. BMW's Mini E electric vehicle uses induction motors, and Tesla is supplying its drive trains to Toyota's upcoming electric RAV 4. Given the volatility of rare-earth supplies, and the advantages induction motors offer in high performance applications, "It makes sense for car companies to give serious thought to using induction motors," says Wally Rippel, senior scientist at AC Propulsion. Rippel previously worked on induction motor designs at Tesla and GM, where he helped to develop the seminal EV1.

更多的厂商正在学习特斯拉避免使用稀土材料，尽管这意味着要牺牲空间和重量。在中国开始稀土禁运一周后，日本的一个研究团队宣布他们制造了一个不含稀土材料的混合动力汽车电动机；日立公司也宣布开始了类似的研究；宝马Mini E电动车使用异步电机；特斯拉则给丰田电动汽车RAV 4提供传动系统。假如稀土供应真的停止，纵使异步电机仅在高性能应用方面具有优势，“汽车厂商还是该认真地多考虑下是否要使用它。”AC Propulsion的高级科学家Wally Rippel说道。Rippel 之前在特斯拉和通用汽车做异步电机的设计工作，并开发了独具创意的EV1。

As automakers explore alternative motors, researchers in the U.S. and elsewhere are also trying to devise replacements for rare-earth materials, and political efforts are advancing to boost supplies of rare earths from outside of China.

加大对使用少量稀土材料的永磁体研发的投入

当汽车厂商开发新型电动机的同时，美国及国外的研究者们也同时在设计稀土材料的替代品，同时进行的还有从政治上鼓励从其它国家进口稀土材料。

In the U.S., the Chinese dominance of rare-earth mineral production has prompted a surge of funding focused on developing permanent magnets that use less, if any, rare-earth materials, such as nearly $7 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E). In one of these projects, University of Nebraska researchers are working to enhance permanent magnets made with an alloy iron and cobalt, or FeCo. This class of materials is sold today, but delivers half or less of the power of the best rare-earth-based magnets. The Nebraska researchers will focus on ways to dope the structural matrix of these alloys with traces of other elements, thereby rearranging their molecular geometry to create stronger, more durable permanent magnetic materials.

中国对稀土矿石生产的垄断推动了美国一系列基金的审批，这些基金主要是关于使用少量稀土材料的永磁体的开发。比如约七百万美元的能源高等研究计划（ARPA-E）就是其中之一。其中内布拉斯加大学的研究者们正在设法提高铁钴合金永磁体的性能。这类合金可以买到，但是只有最好的稀土磁铁一半或更少的磁性。 内布拉斯加大学的研究者们通过向合金的点阵结构中掺杂，重排分子结构来制备更强更稳定的永磁材料。

Working alongside the Nebraska researchers in the same ARPA-E program, researchers at the University of Delaware are advancing nanocomposites that use far less of the valuable rare-earth materials, but that have been shown theoretically to generate magnetic strengths twice as powerful as today's best permanent magnets. The lab is mixing particles, just 20 to 30 nanometers in size, of rare-earth magnetic materials with a non-rare-earth complement (tin cobalt). Prior efforts to make this material have been unable to precisely align the nanoparticles, diminishing their magnetic performance substantially. Instead of concocting the material in bulk, like mixing batter, the team is developing a process to control the particles' alignment by assembling them in regular arrays.

此外，同样参与ARPA-E项目的还有来自特拉华大学研究者们。他们正在开发一种纳米复合材料。这种材料使用更少的稀土材料，但是理论上会产生相当于现在最好永磁体两倍的磁性。他们的实验室正在尝试将只有20到30纳米大小的稀土磁性颗粒和非稀土填充物（锡钴）混合在一起。早期合成的这种材料未能精确排列其中的纳米颗粒，极大地降低了磁性能。现在他们不再简单地将它们混合在一起，而是开发了新的方法把他们排成规则阵列来控制颗粒的取向。

GE Global Research, in Niskayuna, New York, is pursuing nanocomposites similar to those being developed in Delaware, also with ARPA-E funding. Using methods developed in-house, the project aims to build a new material through the alignment of nanopowders. "These materials are intrinsically unstable," so controlling their assembly is at the frontier of nanoscale manufacturing processes, says Luana Iorio, a manager at GE's High Temperature Alloys and Processing Laboratory, who leads the research. GE estimates its nanocomposites could deliver 35 percent greater magnetic strength than today's best permanent magnets, while using 40 percent of the rare earths, by volume. Within two years, Iorio hopes, the project will be able to create samples of the new material a few centimeters in diameter.

位于纽约尼什卡纳（Niskayuna）的通用电气全球研究中心也获得了ARPA-E基金，他们同样在制备一种类似的纳米复合材料。他们的目标是要利用自己发明的新方法，通过排列纳米粉末来制备一种新材料。“这种材料很不稳定”，因此控制它们的合成仍然是纳米尺度制备方法的前沿课题，领导这项研究的Luana Iorio说道。他是通用电气高温合金和处理实验室的经理。通用电气估计它们的纳米复合材料可获得比现有最好永磁体还强35%的磁场强度，但只需要使用40%的稀土材料。Iorio希望他们能够在两年内合成出直径达数厘米的样品。

Yet since it may take years for these efforts to bear fruit, the hunt for non-Chinese sources of the minerals is attracting attention in the near term. In California, Molycorp Minerals is looking to reopen rare-earth mines that closed in 2002, amidst low pricing and environmental concerns. In recent weeks, bills have been floated in the U.S. House and Senate aimed at reviving the rare-earth supply chain in the U.S., including mining, refining, and manufacturing. A third bill, in the House, is narrower, focusing on offering loan guarantees to restart mining.

重开稀土矿山

因为等这些努力开花结果尚需数年，寻求中国之外的矿石则是近期最引人关注的。位于加利福利亚洲的Molycorp矿石公司正在准备重新开启2002年因低价和环境考虑而关闭的稀土矿。近几周，在美国参众议院一直都有关于恢复稀土供应链的议案，包括开采，精炼和生产各个环节。众议院的第三个议案则更具体，主要确保给重开矿山提供贷款保证。

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