European & Japanese scientists developing new cost-effective materials for magnetic storage devices

EU News 491/2013

28 November 2013

An international team of European and Japanese scientists, on the European side led by the University of York in the UK, has launched a €4.6m collaborative project co-funded by the European Commission (EC) and the Japanese Science and Technology Agency (JST) to develop new materials to replace the scarce metal Iridium, commonly used in magnetic storage devices such as hard-disk drives. The price of Iridium has begun to soar due to the scarcity of the metal and the increasing demand for these new technologies, making finding a replacement increasingly important.

European scientists and the Japanese research team led by Professor Koki Takanashi from Tohoku University are working closely together. The initiative is expected to lead to more European-Japanese cooperation in the important area of materials research and critical materials/rare earths in the future.

More details on this project: HARFIR.EU

2013.11.13 Bielefeld hosts HARFIR Kick-Off Meeting, Participants. Photo courtesy of HARFIR.EU URL

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