OREANDA-NEWS. Fujitsu today announced the development of a new technology for simulating magnetization reversal(1), and has used the K computer(2) to perform huge calculations to successfully conduct the world's first simulation of the magnetization-reversal process in a permanent magnet. This opens up new possibilities in the manufacture of electric motors, generators and other devices without relying on heavy rare earth elements(3).

The process of magnetization reversal has been a subject of scientific study, but the huge volume of calculations required to accurately model magnetic materials has made it difficult to simulate that process.

Fujitsu developed a magnetic simulation technology that combines a finite-element method(4) with micromagnetics(5). This technology makes it possible to compute magnetization processes of magnetic materials with complex microstructures on a nanometer (nm) scale, which is many times smaller than conventional technology can manage, by executing enormous computations on a supercomputer using a massively parallel computing technique.

This combination technology paves the way toward R&D advances in new magnetic materials, including strong magnets free from heavy rare earth elements.

Simulations of magnetization reversal in rare-earth magnets using this technology were performed on the K computer(6) in cooperation with Japan's National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). On September 5, the results of this simulation are being presented jointly by Fujitsu and NIMS at the 37th Annual Conference on Magnetics in Japan being held at Hokkaido University.