Developing Substitutes

As CMI begins its 13th year of operation in 2025, the CMI focus area Developing Substitutes will conduct research around the themes of Materials Discovery and Maturation, Energy-Efficient Rare Earth Metals Production and Novel Processing. For questions or more information, please contact cmidirector@ameslab.gov.

News & Highlights

All News | All Highlights

Pictured February 08, 2026: Melanie S. Guerrero (left) and Denis Prodius (right) at the Iowa Regional Middle School Science Bowl hosted by Ames National Laboratory and held at Iowa State University.

Research Highlight

CMI leaders lead panel discussion at Magnetics 2026

$X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of NdF<sub>3</sub> synthesized via AFTRE.$ Research Highlight

AFTRE: HF-free route to rare-earth fluorides

Research Projects

CMI Project 2.1.1 Novel chemistry and processes to enable nanostructures for permanent magnets

CMI Project 2.1.2 Accelerated discovery and development of low-cost, low-criticality competitor to the Nd2Fe14B-based magnets

CMI Project 2.1.3 Systems level modeling and prototyping

CMI Project 2.2.5 Bypassing electrolysis: one-step calciothermic route to NdFeB powders from Nd2O3

CMI Project 2.2.6 Energy-efficient metallothermic reduction of rare earths

CMI Project 2.2.8 A novel ‘continuous’ reactor for molten salt electrowinning of neodymium metal enabling low-cost and scalable domestic metal production

Developing Substitutes

News & Highlights

CMI scientists volunteer for Iowa Regional Science Bowl

Advancing coercivity in Ce2Fe17N3-based alloys

High conversion of NdCl3 to Nd metal using chloride molten salt electrolysis