Development of hard-magnetic materials by first-principles calculation and materials informatics

Abstract

High-performance permanent magnets are indispensable for everyday life, with applications including hard disk drives, hybrid and electric vehicles, and wind power generators, among others. Recently, their use has expanded to, e.g., small robots and drones, and their demand is increasing each year. In this article, we first present the history of the development of permanent magnets, and revisit the invention of neodymium magnets from a theoretical viewpoint. We then discuss how computational science and data-driven approaches are adopted in the development of permanent magnets.