H. K. D. H. Bhadeshia, Secret Revealed.

Now we have evidence, there is more than one H. K. D. H. Bhadeshia, that’s how he can do some much metallurgy. You think someone would have noticed with so many of them. But you never see more than one at a time.

Search Results for Bhadeshia on Research Gate

Iron replaces Rare Earth in Hitachi motor

Rare earth elements
Rare earth metals have become increasingly strategic since the 2002 closure of the Mountain Pass open-pit mine in California USA leaving Chinese producers with 95% of market. The mine was closed due to low price of rare earth elements and environmental restrictions due to production of high amounts of toxic and radioactive thorium and radium contaminated waste water (the mine was discovered by a uranium prospector due to high radioactivity). Chinese productions has become increasing centralised and regulated to ensure supply to Chinese industry and to restrict pollution in China. Producers in other countries have warned that green technologies (like motors for wind generators, solar cell production) are reliant on the use of rare-earth elements.

Rare Earth Production in 1000′s of tonnes (Original Source USGS))

Mountain Pass production is being re-initiated with $500 million dollars spent to reopen and expand the mine (money raised by initial public offering of Molycorp) and was expected to be in full production by mid-2012.

On September 22, 2010 China quietly enacted a ban on exports of rare earths to Japan, which also produces a small amount of rare earth elements itself. Recently China has policy of reducing exports of rare earth and consolidating mining into state-owned companies. Other countries have protested these moves, but China cites environmental reasons which is an exception under World Trade Organisation agreements (China Joined in Nov 2001). I think there case is strengthened by the fact that only 35% of proven reserves of rare earth elements are in China but 95-97% of production takes place there. According to UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Tehnology, companies which process rare earth materials deal with processing of rare earth materials may face shortages, but since China seems happy to export products made from rare earth materials, like motors, companies making electric vehicles or wind turbines are not yet alarmed. Neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium can be used in motors. Currently 4% of motors used in wind turbines use rare earths but the figure is anticipated to rise.

What are rare earth elements
Rare earth elements are usually regarded as the lanthanides, scandium and yttrium, as all exhibit similar chemical properties. Global production is around 124,000 tonnes in oxide form.
Major mining initiatives are underway in reopening of Mountain Pass, and two sites in Australia; Mount Weld and Nolans. Each expected to produce 20,000 tonnes annually by 2013/2014.

Element	Example Applications
Scandium	metal alloys for the aerospace industry
Yttrium
Lanthanum	batteries, catalysts for petroleum refining
Cerium	catalysts, polishing, metal alloys
Praseodymium	improved magnet corrosion resistance, pigment
Neodymium	high power magnets for laptops, lasers
Promethium	beta radiation source
Samarium	high temperature magnets, reactor control rods
Europium	liquid crystal displays, fluorescent lighting
Gadolinium	magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent
Terbium	phosphors for lighting and display
Dysprosium	high power magnets, lasers
Holmium	highest power magnets known
Erbium	lasers, glass colourant
Thulium	ceramic magnetic materials under development
Ytterbium	fibre optic technology, solar panels
Lutetium	X-ray phosphors

Table: Applications of Rare Earths, Source: Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, Note No. 368, 2011.

Replacement or Rare Earths

Not all motors rely on rare earth magnets, or on permanent magnets for their operation. Japan have previously announced replacement of non-rare earth based magnets, Tesla Motors are an example of a company which has opted for induction motors for their electric vehicles (should necessitate use of inverter to produce AC current).

Recently Hitachi have announced the development of a new motor with an iron core based on a proprietary amorphous metal. This means the core of the motor will be ferromagnetic rather than a permanent magnet and the amorphous metal is able to switch magnetisation with low hysteresis losses.

IOP claim physics guilty of Titanic sinking

The editorial to the IOP physics world claims the sinking of the Titanic to be caused by physics. The article then goes on to explain about the transition temperature of the steel (it seems that the toughness would be good enough for the steel to buckle) and the use of ONLY the Best rivets (rather than better Best-Best rivets which should have been used!).

In the mid-2000s two metallurgists, Tim Foecke at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology and Jennifer Hooper McCarty, then at Johns Hopkins University in the US, focused their attention on the composition of the Titanic’s rivets. They combined their metallurgical analysis with a methodical sweep through the records of the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast where the Titanic was built. Combining physical and historical analysis in this way proved to be a powerful trick.

Foecke and McCarty found that the rivets that held the mild-steel plates of the Titanic’s hull together were not of uniform composition or quality and had not been inserted in a uniform fashion. Specifically, Foecke and McCarty found that the rivets at the front and rear fifths of the Titanic were made only of “best” quality iron, not “best-best”, and had been inserted by hand. The reason for this was that, at the time of the Titanic’s construction, the hydraulic presses used to insert the rivets used in the middle three-fifths of the ship could not be operated where the curvature of the hull was too acute (i.e. at bow and stern).

physicsworld article

Titanic Belfast

Titanic Belfast is a visitor attraction and a monument to Belfast’s maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland and Wolff shipyard in the city’s Titanic Quarter. It tells the stories of the ill-fated RMS Titanic, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1912, and her sister ship RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic. The building contains more than 12,000 square metres of floor space, most of which is occupied by a series of galleries, plus private function rooms and community facilities.