French warehouse discovers alternative to Chinese samarium, Raytheon is overjoyed: Tomahawk missiles are saved!
Recently, something has greatly excited the American defense giants. Originally, due to China's regulation of seven medium and heavy rare earth elements, including metallic samarium, in April this year. This move was almost a "supply cut" for American defense companies that rely on high-precision guidance systems.
Originally, 98% of the world's metallic samarium came from China, and 85% of the world's rare earth magnets also originated from China.
The reason why Raytheon's famous Tomahawk cruise missile can accurately adjust its trajectory during high-speed flight lies in the use of samarium-containing permanent magnet materials. These magnets can maintain strong magnetism even at high temperatures, and are an essential component of inertial navigation systems. Once the supply of samarium is interrupted, not only will new missiles be unable to be produced, but the maintenance and upgrading of existing inventory will also face difficulties.
To everyone's surprise, the turning point turned out to be hidden in a long-forgotten chemical plant in northern France. The Belgian chemical giant Solvay was once one of the world's main producers of rare earth oxides at the end of the last century, but it completely exited the business due to cost disadvantages 20 years ago.
At that time, China's rare earth purification technology had made rapid progress, with production costs as low as one fifth to one eighth of those in the West, leading to European and American companies including Solvay to shut down production. However, Solvay did something that seemed unnecessary but was actually crucial: it retained a large amount of uncompletely processed samarium nitrate intermediate stockpiles and maintained the availability of some old equipment.
It is precisely these "forgotten stocks" that have now become a lifeline. Grant Smith, chairman of Liverpool Metals Company in the UK, confirmed that although these samarium nitrates are old, their purity meets standards, and an old reduction furnace in the factory can still operate after simple modification.
Thus, a low-key yet efficient transnational collaboration quickly took place: the samarium compounds from the French factory were transported to the UK, where they were reduced to metallic samarium by Liverpool Metals Company, and then further smelted into specific proportions of samarium-cobalt alloy. Subsequently, these alloy blocks were sent to the United States, where downstream manufacturers pressed them into high-performance magnets, which were finally assembled into the guidance motors of Tomahawk missiles.
Grant Smith, chairman of Liverpool Metals Company, is said to have made a fortune, with no time to rest. It is unknown whether these so-called surviving samarium-cobalt alloys are genuine or fake.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1852356608711755/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.