Magnets, Motors and Electromagnetic Propulsion
Magnetic materials are used in equipment as varied as car motors, cellphone chargers, power transformers and magnetic resonance imaging machines in medicine.
Motor materials under development
On 10 December 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy announced 14 selections through its Critical Materials Accelerator programme. The announcement came from the department's Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office. The programme aimed to validate technologies and processes already proven on a small scale, to accelerate their commercial readiness and adoption.
One selected project aimed to develop and prototype motors using manganese-bismuth, abbreviated MnBi, permanent magnets. The proposed technology used a polymer-bonded magnetic material, with general-purpose motors and traction applications as its intended uses.
The project built on earlier government-funded work to develop a suitable magnetic material without rare-earth elements. DOE described that foundation as reducing technical risk and improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The selected motor design was also described as compatible with the electric-vehicle industry.
If it succeeded, DOE said, the technology would eliminate critical materials from industrial motors and non-drivetrain automotive uses, which together account for 38% of the market, and would open an opportunity for more than 10% market-share adoption.
Magnetism changes with temperature
The NIST educational demonstration of magnetic steel follows a sample that initially sticks to a magnet. Once heated above a certain temperature, the sample loses that attraction. NIST published its explanation on 27 August 2026.
According to NIST's explanation, the steel is magnetic because its atoms have a particular arrangement. Heating changes their positions relative to one another, making the steel nonmagnetic. Cooling the sample in a cup of water returns its atomic structure to its previous arrangement.
NIST's wider work includes developing measurement methods for magnetic materials and certifying magnetic standard reference materials. Those efforts support U.S. industry in designing magnets and equipment.
An electrically powered lithium thruster
On 24 February 2026, a prototype lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic thruster was fired in a special chamber at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. NASA reported the test on 28 April 2026.
The engine ran on lithium metal vapour. NASA described it as differing from existing thrusters through its use of high electrical currents interacting with a magnetic field to accelerate lithium plasma electromagnetically. The test reached power levels of up to 120 kilowatts.
At the time, NASA described the firing as the first in years, at power levels exceeding any previous test in the United States. The agency discussed crewed missions to Mars and robotic spacecraft throughout the solar system as potential applications of the technology.