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The AddMag project was selected as one of the M-ERA.Net success stories, highlighting its scientific excellence and strong industrial impact in the field of advanced magnetic materials. Funded under the M-ERA.Net programme, the project demonstrated that additive manufacturing can be used to produce permanent magnets with outstanding magnetic performance, high dimensional accuracy, and improved sustainability compared to conventional manufacturing routes. The project involved the K7 research group of the Jožef Stefan Institute, led by Dr. Benjamin Podmiljšak, which contributed significantly to the development and validation of innovative approaches for the additive manufacturing of magnetic materials and to the demonstration of industrially relevant use cases. Being recognized as an M-ERA.Net success story, AddMag underlines the importance of international collaboration in advancing circular-economy-based solutions, reducing dependence on primary earth resources, and strengthening Europe’s strategic position in sustainable magnet technologies. https://www.m-era.net/news/successstory_addmag  

Nik Gračanin je prejemnik fakultetne Prešernove nagrade za leto 2025 za magistrsko delo z naslovom »Mineraloška, kristalografska in geokemična analiza wulfenitnih zrn iz rudnika Mežica«. Magistrsko delo je nastalo pod mentorstvom izr. prof. dr. Nastje Rogan Šmuc z Naravoslovnotehniške fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani ter somentorstvom prof. dr. Saša Šturma, vodje odseka K7 na Institutu Jožef Stefan. Delo obsega poglobljeno kristalografsko analizo wulfenitnih zrn iz rudnika Mežica. Skupaj s sodelavci z odseka K7 je vzorce analiziral z različnimi naprednimi metodami, vključno z optično mikroskopijo, odsevno in presevno elektronsko mikroskopijo (SEM, TEM), spektroskopskimi tehnikami (SEM-EDXS in HR-ICP-MS) ter monokristalno rentgensko difrakcijo (SCXRD). Rezultati analiz so predstavljali osnovo za postavitev modela rasti wulfenitnih zrn v Mežici, podrobneje pa bili predstavljeni tudi v znanstvenem članku »Formation mechanisms and environmental influences on the crystal growth of wulfenite«, objavljenem v reviji Scientific Reports.

The Department for Nanostructured Materials, K7, at the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) has successfully secured funding under the RSF IND Programme (Pillar IV – Innovation) for the project iRAPTOR: Omni-Directional Magnetic Field-Controlled 3D Printing Device. The one-year project, led by Dr. Muhammad Shahid Arshad, is supported with funding of €50,000 and focuses on advancing functional additive manufacturing of magnetic materials. The iRAPTOR project aims to develop a novel fused-deposition modeling (FDM) print head equipped with a compact, water-cooled, omnidirectional electromagnet system and integrated Hall-probe sensing. This enables precise, real-time control and verification of magnetic field orientation during printing, allowing voxel-level alignment of anisotropic hard-magnetic particles. The result is polymer-bonded magnets with significantly enhanced remanence and tailored multipolar magnetization patterns. The technology will be validated on motor-relevant components, including BLDC motor parts, in collaboration with industrial partner Kolektor Mobility and research partner CIM-UPC (Spain). Beyond technical validation, the project also supports…