Japan.

In the large conference room of Chunshan Magnetic Materials Co., Ltd., laughter and laughter are loud, and the celebration party for the successful mass production of dysprosium terbium ferroalloy permanent magnet materials is being held. President Miyagawa is standing at the end of the conference table and bowing to his subordinates who have made important contributions. How could those subordinates dare to accept such a courtesy, and bow in return one by one. The people in the conference room are like the square dancing aunts in later generations, constantly repeating the zombie-like bowing action.

"Hirano-kun, we were able to grasp the new technology of dysprosium terbium-terbium ferroalloy in a timely manner, and your credit is the greatest, and I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to you on behalf of the board of directors." Miyagawa said to Sadao Hirano, the head of technology.

Sadao Hirano hurriedly said: "You are too polite, president, this is the result of your wise decision, and my contribution is insignificant." ”

"Changyoujun, thank you for your outstanding contributions to the procurement of dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide, your excellent work has enabled our company's operation to no longer be affected by the fluctuation of rare earth prices and gain the initiative in the market." Miyagawa bowed again to the Minister of Purchasing, Nagatomo Nagatomo, and thanked him.

"That's what I'm supposed to do." Nagatomo Eiji stood up to return the salute, his face full of pride.

Miyagawa then thanked the heads of the production, sales and other departments, and hinted that everyone would receive a special bonus at the end of the year, so that everyone's feelings were even higher, and their heads were like chickens pecking rice. The top of a few of the heads was already bald, and when they shook like searchlights, there was something beautiful about it.

After his thank-you speech, Miyagawa began to deliver a long speech:

"The Chinese lack technical foresight, and they are lucky enough to discover such a promising permanent magnet material as dysprosium terbium ferroalloy, but they do not recognize the value of this material. In the past two years, they have not invested enough in the research and development of dysprosium terbium ferroalloys. Rather, it is content to digest the NdFeB technology of the past that has been exchanged from us. During this time, we have completely studied the properties and production process of dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy, and successfully achieved mass production.

Through the unremitting efforts of the sales team led by Jun Okazaki, we have made more than 70 major users of permanent magnet materials around the world realize the value of dysprosium terbium ferroalloy materials, and currently 35 have signed purchase intentions with us, and the total amount of intention is ......"

Speaking of which. Miyagawa turned his head to glance at Saburo Okazaki, the sales director, and Saburo Okazaki quickly got up and responded: "President, as of this morning, the amount of intent to purchase dysprosium terbium-ferroalloy magnetic materials is a total of 270 million US dollars, which is equivalent to about 22 billion yen. According to our estimates, this is only a preliminary sales result, as users are not completely convinced of the properties of dysprosium and terbium ferroalloys, and the purchase amount should increase by at least 3 times after their trial. ”

"It's a pretty big sale." Miyagawa concluded. "According to the joint forecast of the technical department and the sales department, although the price of dysprosium and terbium alloy is higher than that of NdFeB, due to its excellent performance, it will be able to replace NdFeB in an all-round way and become a new mainstream permanent magnet material. At present, our Chunshan Club has an absolute leading advantage in this field, and this market with annual sales of no less than 1 billion US dollars must belong to us. China's Daqin Group was the first to invent dysprosium and terbium ferroalloy materials, but they are still intoxicated with the joy of selling tens of millions of dollars of NdFeB materials every year. ”

"Hahahaha!" The crowd burst into laughter. Several executives even got up straight from their seats, twisted their fat bodies and danced an unknown Japanese dance. The Japanese personality is very reserved on the surface. But when it comes to madness, it's extremely exaggerated. Maybe it's because they're usually too repressed, so when they have the opportunity to let go, they will redouble their publicity.

In the midst of the noise, Sadao Hirano suddenly felt a slight vibration from the pager stuck on his belt, and he glanced down, his face changing slightly. Hurriedly got up and walked a few steps, came to Miyagawa Masa's side, leaned down and whispered: "President, we really called me in the room, there may be an emergency." I'll have to leave the meeting for a while to take a look. ”

This kind of meeting presided over by the president, if there are no special circumstances, subordinates will not dare to be absent and leave halfway, since Sadao Hirano proposed to leave the meeting, naturally there is something urgent, which Miyagawa can fully understand. He nodded and said, "You go first." ”

Sadao Hirano left the venue and was about to rush to the real room, but saw his assistant Motohisa Nakagawa standing outside the venue waiting for him. Nakagawa Motohisa was holding a publication in his hand, his face was full of eagerness, and when he saw Sadao Hirano coming out, he strode forward and shouted, "Hirano-kun, it's not good, something is wrong!" ”

"What's the matter?" Sadao Hirano frowned. He could see that Nakagawa Motohisa was holding a copy of the Journal of Magnetic Materials, not something like a real report, that is, Nakagawa Motohisa called him out of the meeting just to show him an academic paper, which annoyed him a lot. How important can it be to read the paper, can't you wait until the end of the meeting?

"Hirano-kun, you read this article, I believe that after you read it, you will understand what is going on." Motohisa Nakagawa flipped the page of the magazine and handed it to Sadao Hirano.

Sadao Hirano impatiently took the magazine and glanced nonchalantly at the headline on the page: "Preparation and Performance Analysis of Cerium-based Rare Earth Permanent Magnet Materials." He didn't react for a while, and muttered: "Isn't it the performance analysis of rare earth permanent magnet materials, what is it worth all the fuss about?" Cerium-based ...... What, Cerium! ”

When the word "cerium" was pronounced again, Sadao Hirano only felt a flash of inspiration in his mind, and he couldn't help but shiver. He has been working on rare earth permanent magnet materials for many years, so the concept of rare earth is very familiar to him, and it is not enough to arouse his excitement. However, the word "cerium" is completely different, because he understands too well what it means to prepare rare earth permanent magnet materials from cerium as a basic element.

Rare earth is a series of metal elements, the same rare earth, different elements on the surface of the accumulation is different, mining difficulty is also very different, which determines that different rare earth prices may be very different. Among the NdFeB materials first developed by Chunshan Company, the most important element is rare earth neodymium, which is a rare earth element at a medium price. Later, Daqin Group and Chunshan exchanged formulas for dysprosium-terbium ferroalloys, a new type of permanent magnet material that requires rare earths dysprosium and terbium, two relatively expensive elements.

Since dysprosium and terbium are mainly produced from ionic adsorption rare earth deposits, which are unique to the hilly and mountainous areas of southern China, the price and market supply of these two elements are completely controlled by the Chinese. After transferring the formula of dysprosium and terbium ferroalloy to Chunshan Company, Daqin Group, which monopolized the mining and trade of heavy rare earths in China, raised the price of dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide by hundreds of times, making Chunshan Company bear a huge financial burden.

Through the rare earth for steel agreement, Chunshan Company purchased a sufficient amount of dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide from Daqin Group, thinking that it could no longer be constrained by the resources of the Chinese, let go of a big job, and earn back its deficit in the new permanent magnet material market. If the concept of cerium-based materials really came out, it was enough to push Chunshan Company into the abyss all of a sudden.

Cerium is the cheapest of all rare earth elements, and even before Qinhai comprehensively raised the price of heavy rare earths, the price difference between cerium and dysprosium in the international market was more than 50 times, and after that, the price of the two was one in the sky and the other in the ground. At present, the price of one kilogram of dysprosium oxide in the market can almost buy several tons of cerium oxide.

If permanent magnet materials can also be manufactured with cerium elements, even if the performance is worse than that of NdFeB and dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy, its absolute advantage in price will make the latter two materials face a catastrophe.

"When is this article and who is the author?" Sadao Hirano asked loudly, he was completely confused at this time, and he looked down at the issue of the magazine and forgot the name of the author.

"This is a magazine that has just come out, and the author of this article is...... Sun Yuzhi. Nakagawa Motohisa said with a bitter face.

"Sun Yuzhi ......" Sadao Hirano was stunned, "Didn't he study dysprosium terbium ferroalloys?" How could it be ......"

Speaking of this, a very terrible conjecture came to his mind, he did not continue, but hurriedly flipped through the article, and from those coherent analyses and sufficient data jù proofs, he confirmed his conjecture that the Chinese have mastered this technology for a long time, and this is not an article introducing a new discovery, but an article that completely expounds the properties of materials and the means of material preparation.

"Have you checked the status of patent applications for cerium-based materials?" Sadao Hirano asked Motohisa Nakagawa.

"Yes." Motohisa Nakagawa and Sadao Hirano have also worked together for many years, and they can understand each other's thoughts with just one sentence, he nodded and said: "After I saw this article, I immediately called the Japan Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and they both said that they had received patent applications from China for cerium-based permanent magnet materials, and China Daqin Group submitted 25 patents at one time. ”

"I see, I get it all." Sadao Hirano only felt dizzy, and the joy in the venue just now was suddenly gone. The reason why Daqin Group is short-sighted, and the reason why they do not invest in dysprosium and terbium ferroalloy is that they have long mastered alternative technology, and as soon as this technology comes out, dysprosium and terbate ferroalloy will be completely swept into the dustbin of history. (To be continued......)