RARE-EARTH MATERIALS RESEARCH IN EUROPEAN COMMUNITY RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

The level of involvement of EC research programmes in rare earth materials research is quite high. A total of 65 projects have been identified representing an involvement of 283 partners from all over Europe. This corresponds to a budget a 63.3 MECU (76M$) of which the EC contributes 40.7 MECU (49M$). In this paper, the various research activities will be discussed under the main themes of rare earth permanent magnets, high T(c) superconductors, optical and other materials, with specific reference to the three main programmes involved, BRITE/EURAM, SCIENCE and ESPRIT. Two other programmes currently involved in rare earth research are RAW MATERIALS and JOULE.