Ames Lab will help advance AI-guided manufacturing of high-performance magnets and strengthen domestic supply chains
AMES, Iowa — Ames National Laboratory will contribute its expertise in critical materials and advanced manufacturing as a partner in a newly funded project led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) that aims to accelerate the development of high-performance permanent magnets without the use of heavy rare earth elements.
The project, AI-Guided Manufacturing of High-Performance Heavy Rare-Earth-Free Magnets for Critical Materials Security (AIM-MAG), was selected for a Phase I award under the U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Mission program. The project team will develop an artificial intelligence-enabled framework to improve the design and manufacturing of neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) permanent magnets, which are essential to national security technologies, resilient domestic supply chains, advanced manufacturing, and critical energy systems.
The AIM-MAG project combines expertise in artificial intelligence, materials science, and advanced manufacturing to better understand how production methods affect magnet performance. Using AI tools alongside experimental data, the team aims to speed the development and improvement of high-performance magnets that do not require heavy rare earth elements, helping strengthen U.S. critical materials supply chains.
A key innovation of the project is an AI-powered knowledge platform that combines information from scientific literature, existing databases, and experimental datasets. By connecting manufacturing conditions with material structure and magnetic performance, the platform will help researchers identify patterns that might otherwise be missed and guide the design of next-generation magnets.
Ames Lab brings decades of expertise in rare earth materials, magnet development, and advanced manufacturing to the AIM-MAG partnership. Through its Advanced Magnet Facility (AMF) and other magnet-related capabilities, the Laboratory will be contributing its expertise and experience in novel magnet manufacture and alloy characterization to provide a strong foundation for advancing new approaches to magnet design and production.
"Ames National Laboratory is pleased to partner on this effort to advance AI-enabled approaches for critical materials research and manufacturing," said Ames Lab Director Karl Mueller. "Projects like AIM-MAG will accelerate scientific discovery while helping address important challenges in domestic magnet production and materials security. Strengthening domestic magnet manufacturing is an important step toward greater U.S. magnet sovereignty and supply chain resilience."
About the Genesis Mission
The Genesis Mission is a historic national initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy that is building the world's most powerful integrated science discovery platform. By bringing together government, industry, academia, and philanthropy, the initiative seeks to accelerate breakthroughs in energy, scientific discovery, and national security through a platform that combines artificial intelligence, supercomputing, quantum systems, and advanced scientific instruments.
About the Phase I Awards
The goal of the Genesis Mission Phase I funding opportunity is to identify promising pathways toward transformative scientific capabilities and establish a foundation for future investment and scale. Awarded teams will design and demonstrate research workflows that integrate AI with scientific investigation while evaluating whether those approaches can accelerate discovery, improve predictive capabilities, enhance experimentation, and generate new scientific insights.
Ames National Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science National Laboratory operated by Iowa State University. Ames Laboratory creates innovative materials, technologies, and energy solutions. We use our expertise, unique capabilities, and interdisciplinary collaborations to solve global problems.
Ames Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit https://energy.gov/science.