RARA Factory: new alternative rare earth materials
How many as children always dreamed of being able to create and shape matter? Today that dream is no longer fantasy, but science. Last July 17 saw the inauguration of the laboratory of RARA Factory, the first Italian company that researches and prototypes new alternative materials to rare earths, and it does so in the spaces of the VEGA Science and Technology Park, as a spin-off of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. The ambitious goal is to create sustainable substitutes for the precious minerals that are the basis of the technology we depend on but to which the planet yields great resources and whose extraction processes are not always respectful, either of the environment or of people. At present, the start-up is able to produce about 150 samples a day, reaching the goal of more than 10,000 annually by the end of 2025, whose magnetic, thermal and optical properties are being tested.
The basis of the technology advanced fielded by the enterprise there is A patented algorithm that through the use of artificial intelligence simulates the combination of common elements in nature, such as silicon, aluminum, iron, and calcium, To give rise to new materials with equivalent or superior properties to known alloys. The team at work consists of physicists and computer scientists, who have worked on more than 45,000 materials. “As a first goal, we focused on alternative materials to neodymium magnets – explains Stefano Bonetti, Cofounder and Scientific Director of RARA Factory and Full Professor of Experimental Physics of Matter and Applications at Ca’ Foscari – for their use in automotive and renewable energy, but our methodology can be applied to any element“.
