What Are Rare Earth Metals? The 17 Elements and Their Uses
Rare earth metals are a family of 17 metallic elements: the 15 lanthanides, plus scandium and yttrium. Their magnetic, optical, and chemical properties make them useful in permanent magnets, lighting, catalysts, polishing compounds, and specialized alloys.
The term names an element family, rather than every scarce or expensive metal. Lithium, cobalt, indium, and gallium are not rare earth elements. Also, a rare earth element may reach a factory as a metal, an oxide, or part of an alloy. That form matters: neodymium metal, neodymium oxide, and a neodymium magnet do different jobs.
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What are rare earth metals
The 17 rare earth metals are scandium, yttrium, and the 15 elements from lanthanum through lutetium. The U.S. Geological Survey’s rare earths overview uses this 17-element definition.
| عنصر | Symbol | Atomic number | Representative use or material |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scandium | Sc | 21 | Aluminium-scandium alloys for lightweight components |
| Yttrium | Y | 39 | Yttrium-aluminium garnet (YAG) laser host materials |
| Lanthanum | La | 57 | Optical glass and nickel-metal hydride battery alloys |
| Cerium | Ce | 58 | Oxide-based glass polishing and catalysts |
| Praseodymium | Pr | 59 | Permanent-magnet alloys, often with neodymium |
| Neodymium | Nd | 60 | NdFeB permanent magnets for motors and speakers |
| Promethium | Pm | 61 | Mainly research; specialized radioisotope batteries |
| Samarium | Sm | 62 | Samarium-cobalt permanent magnets |
| Europium | Eu | 63 | Red and blue phosphors in selected lighting/display materials |
| Gadolinium | Gd | 64 | Gadolinium compounds in MRI contrast agents |
| Terbium | Tb | 65 | Green phosphors; selected permanent-magnet grades |
| Dysprosium | Dy | 66 | Selected permanent-magnet grades |
| Holmium | Ho | 67 | Laser materials and neutron-absorbing applications |
| Erbium | Er | 68 | Optical-fiber amplifiers and laser materials |
| Thulium | Tm | 69 | Laser materials; radioisotopes for portable X-ray sources |
| Ytterbium | Yb | 70 | Tunable lasers and optical materials |
| Lutetium | Lu | 71 | Lutetium-containing materials in PET scan detectors |
These are representative uses, often involving compounds or alloys. The USGS element-by-element applications list and Royal Society of Chemistry element references provide further examples; promethium has specialist uses rather than a routine mined supply.
You may also see a list of 15 rare earths. That usually refers to the lanthanide series alone. Adding scandium and yttrium gives the broader family used here. Promethium belongs on the chemical list, although it has no stable isotopes and is not a normal mined industrial feedstock.
Where Are Rare Earth Metals on the Periodic Table?
The lanthanides belong to period 6; scandium is in period 4, and yttrium is in period 5. Rare earth metals do not form one vertical column. Scandium and yttrium sit in group 3 and are included because their chemistry resembles that of the lanthanides.
Most compact periodic tables place the lanthanides in a separate row beneath the main grid to save space. This layout does not make them a separate period. The other row often printed below them contains the actinides, including uranium and thorium. Those elements are not rare earths.
What Are Light and Heavy Rare Earth Metals?
Light and heavy rare earths are subgroups within the family. In the USGS convention used here, lanthanum through gadolinium are light rare earths; terbium through lutetium, together with yttrium, are heavy rare earths. Scandium is treated separately.
| Subgroup used here | Elements |
|---|---|
| Light rare earths | La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd |
| Heavy rare earths | Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, plus Y |
| Considered separately | Sc |
The dividing line varies between sources. Some producers and references place europium and gadolinium in the heavy group instead. The USGS fact sheet on rare earth elements explicitly notes this difference. When comparing two lists, look at the elements included before drawing a conclusion from the group name.
Yttrium has a lower atomic number than the lanthanides, yet it is commonly grouped with heavy rare earths because of its chemical behavior and geological associations. “Heavy” does not mean stronger magnetism or better performance. Neodymium is a light rare earth used in powerful magnets; dysprosium and terbium are heavy rare earths used in some magnet grades for high-temperature performance.
Why Are Rare Earth Metals Called Rare?
The name comes from the history of their discovery in unusual mineral “earths,” rather than a rule that all 17 elements are extremely scarce. In early chemistry, earths were materials that were difficult to break down further, including substances later identified as oxides.
Many rare earths are spread widely through the crust. The harder problem is finding a deposit with enough recoverable material, then separating the desired elements at a useful cost. Three different questions are often hidden inside the word “rare”:
How much exists? Crustal abundance describes how much of an element is present across a large amount of rock.
How much is concentrated in a deposit? A mine needs suitable mineralogy, concentration, access, and recovery economics.
Can the required material be made? Separating chemically similar elements and producing a specified oxide, metal, or alloy requires additional processing.
These questions explain why a widespread element can still have a difficult supply chain. They also explain why discovering a resource does not immediately create a source of finished magnets or high-purity metals.
Promethium is an important exception to broad claims about abundance. It has no stable isotopes and occurs naturally only in minute traces. Treating it as just another plentiful, mined rare earth would give the wrong picture.
Promethium is an important exception to broad claims about abundance. It has no stable isotopes and occurs naturally only in minute traces. Treating it as just another plentiful, mined rare earth would give the wrong picture.
What Properties Make Rare Earth Metals Useful?
Rare earth materials are useful because selected elements provide magnetic, light-emitting, optical, or catalytic behavior that a product needs. The useful property depends on the element and its chemical form.
Many lanthanide ions have electrons in 4f orbitals, an inner part of their electron structure. These electrons contribute to their magnetic and light-emitting behavior. This does not make every rare earth element a strong permanent magnet or an interchangeable lighting ingredient.
The practical differences are easier to see through three functions:
Magnetic performance: Neodymium in an iron-boron alloy helps make compact permanent magnets. Samarium-cobalt is a different magnet system with useful resistance to demagnetization at elevated temperatures.
Light and optical behavior: Selected rare earth ions can emit specific colors when supplied with energy. A phosphor is a material that gives off light when energized; selected rare earth ions work inside its host material. Other rare earth compounds change the optical properties of glass.
Chemical activity: Cerium-based oxides can take part in catalytic reactions, while lanthanum-containing materials serve in petroleum refining catalysts. These uses depend on the compound and the process.
Rare earths also share similar chemistry, which makes separating neighboring elements difficult. Their similarities explain why they are grouped together; their differences explain why a manufacturer chooses one element for a particular job.
Pure metals bring another set of properties. Many tarnish or oxidize in air, and their melting points and magnetic behavior differ. Use the properties of the actual metal, compound, or alloy being considered—not a performance claim for the whole rare earth family.
What Do Rare Earth Metals Look Like?
Many rare earth metals have a silvery or gray metallic appearance when freshly exposed, but their compounds and alloys can look different. Air exposure can tarnish the metal surface. Appearance alone cannot identify the element or grade.
The supplied form also matters: a metal may be sold as pieces, ingots, or powder, while an oxide can arrive as a fine powder. For example, the MMTA neodymium oxide specification describes a blue-gray powder. Read the product name and formula before treating a powder as elemental metal.
What Are Rare Earth Metals Used For?
Rare earth elements are used in permanent magnets, selected batteries, lighting and display materials, optical glass, polishing powders, and catalysts. In many of these products, the working material is a compound or alloy rather than a pure rare earth metal.
Which Rare Earth Metals Are Used in Magnets?
Neodymium and praseodymium are important rare earth ingredients in NdFeB magnets; samarium is used in samarium-cobalt magnets. Some NdFeB grades also use dysprosium or terbium to improve resistance to demagnetization at higher temperatures.
The iron, boron, or cobalt is part of the material system too. A block of pure neodymium is not a substitute for a finished NdFeB magnet. The Royal Society of Chemistry’s neodymium reference identifies the alloy with iron and boron as the important permanent-magnet application.
This matters in wind turbines and electric motors. A permanent-magnet design may use rare earth magnets to obtain high power from a compact assembly. Other designs generate the magnetic field differently. The turbine or motor design determines whether those magnet materials are needed.
Are Rare Earth Metals Used in Electric Car Batteries?
Lanthanum-based alloys are used in nickel-metal hydride batteries, including batteries used in some hybrid vehicles. Common lithium-ion EV batteries use different active materials; a major rare earth application in an EV is often its permanent-magnet motor.
The battery stores electrical energy. The motor turns that energy into motion. Combining them under the phrase “EV battery materials” hides two different material requirements.
The Department of Energy separates these applications: rare earths for EV motors, and materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel for energy storage. Battery chemistry and motor type should therefore be identified separately. A vehicle can use a lithium-ion battery with a rare earth permanent-magnet motor, or with a motor design that does not require those magnets.
Where Are Rare Earths Used in Phones and Electronics?
Rare earth materials can serve in miniature speaker and vibration-system magnets, optical glass, and phosphors used in selected lighting or display technologies. Their role depends on the component and the device design.
For example, a speaker magnet needs a strong field within a small space. A phosphor needs a particular light response. Those are different jobs, even when both materials are inside one electronic product.
Avoid treating a phone as one uniform material. Its semiconductor, display layers, optical parts, and magnets have different compositions. Gallium, germanium, and indium may also appear in discussions of electronics, but none belongs to the 17-element rare earth family. A model-specific element list requires that model’s material information. For a related material outside the rare earth family, our guide to pure indium uses explains its role in indium tin oxide (ITO) display coatings and other electronic applications.
What Do Rare Earths Do in Catalysts and Polishing?
Cerium-based materials are used in exhaust-treatment catalysts and glass polishing, while lanthanum-containing catalysts are used in petroleum refining. The compound’s chemistry supplies the useful function.
For polishing, the relevant product is a cerium oxide compound formulated for the task. A piece of cerium metal is not the same polishing material. For exhaust treatment, cerium-containing materials work within a catalyst system; this does not make platinum, palladium, or rhodium rare earth elements. Those belong to the platinum-group metals.
These examples show why an application list should identify both the element and the material that actually performs the work.
Where Are Rare Earth Metals Found and How Are They Produced?
Rare earth elements occur in minerals and other geological materials, including bastnäsite, monazite, xenotime, and ion-adsorption clays. Producing a usable material requires concentrating or extracting the rare earths, separating them, and making the required compound, metal, or alloy.
Deposits occur in many parts of the world. Well-known examples include Mountain Pass in California, Mount Weld in Western Australia, and Bayan Obo in China. Their mineralogy and element mix differ, so one deposit is not automatically a replacement for another.
A simplified industrial sequence helps explain what happens between an ore deposit and a finished material:
Recover the rare earth-bearing material. Mining and physical concentration methods depend on the deposit. Ion-adsorption clays need a different approach from hard-rock ore.
Bring the rare earths into a process stream. Chemical treatment releases the elements from the mineral or host material. The selected process depends on that feed.
Separate the elements. Processes such as solvent extraction or ion exchange exploit small differences between chemically similar rare earths.
Make the specified product. The producer may supply an oxide or another compound. Applications needing metal require a further conversion, such as chemical reduction.
Make the functional material or part. Metals may be combined into alloys and processed into products such as permanent magnets.
Not every material passes through every stage. Cerium oxide used in polishing is already a useful compound; it does not need to become cerium metal first. A mine, a separation plant, a metal producer, and a magnet factory therefore perform different tasks.
The Balaram review of rare earth production and applications describes how mineralogy affects extraction and why separating similar elements requires dedicated processes. It also helps explain why supply depends on processing capability as well as resources in the ground.
Environmental controls belong to this production chain. Chemical processing creates liquid and solid waste streams, and some ores contain uranium or thorium that must be separated and managed. The EPA’s explanation of rare earth mining wastes addresses these associated radioactive materials. Their presence in an ore should be distinguished from the composition of a finished, refined material.
How Do Rare Earth Metals Differ from Oxides and Alloys?
A rare earth metal is an elemental metallic material. A rare earth oxide contains rare earth elements bonded to oxygen, while an alloy combines a rare earth with other elements to obtain useful material properties. These names describe different products.
How Does the Application Change the Material You Need?
For glass polishing, compare a suitable cerium oxide polishing grade rather than cerium metal. Consider a workshop selecting material for an optical-glass surface. It needs to match the polishing compound to the glass, required finish, and process.
A Gordon Glass technical data sheet specifies particle-size distribution and maximum-particle control for its cerium oxide polishing compound. Those are useful selection fields that the element name alone cannot supply. In this example, compare the candidate grade under the same polishing conditions and inspect the resulting surface before changing the production material. A higher purity number alone does not settle that choice.
How Should You Compare Purity and a Certificate of Analysis?
Compare the purity basis and relevant impurity limits, then match the certificate of analysis (COA) to the supplied batch. A COA records information for an identified lot; a general specification defines the product’s requirements.
Rare earth purity may be stated relative to total rare earth metal (TREM) or total rare earth oxide (TREO), rather than the whole sample. For example, a Thermo Fisher neodymium oxide COA lists Nd2O3/TREO ≥99.99%. This compares neodymium oxide with the total rare earth oxide fraction; it does not by itself establish 99.99% purity by total sample mass. The MMTA explains why total rare earth content should also be stated.
Before accepting two grades as equivalent:
Confirm identity and basis. Match the formula and read what the percentage includes.
Check the impurities that affect the job. Review both other rare earths and relevant non-rare-earth impurities; request missing limits.
Match the batch. Compare the lot number on the certificate with the supplied material.
Resolve unclear results. Ask for the analytical method and detection limits when a reported result cannot be compared with your requirement. A blank field is not a zero result.
The same naming check applies outside the rare earth family. For example, our tellurium dioxide powder is TeO2, a compound rather than elemental tellurium; Are Rare Earth Metals the Same as Rare Metals?
Are Rare Earth Metals the Same as Rare Metals?
No. Rare earth metals are the specific 17-element family. “Rare metals” and “minor metals” are broader industry terms, while “critical minerals” describes materials considered important and exposed to supply risk under a particular assessment. The Department of Energy explains its critical-materials definitions separately from chemical element families.
| Term | What it describes | Examples or useful distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Rare earth elements | A defined chemical family | Sc, Y, and the 15 lanthanides |
| Rare or minor metals | Broader trade and industry terminology | Can include indium or other specialty materials outside the rare earth family |
| Critical minerals or materials | Economic, technological, and supply considerations | The relevant list and criteria depend on the issuing authority and assessment |
Indium, gallium, germanium, and bismuth are not rare earth elements. Tellurium is a metalloid—a material with properties between metals and nonmetals—and is also outside the rare earth family. The fact that these materials serve electronics, solar, or other advanced applications does not change their classification.
For example, our indium materials and tellurium materials serve applications such as electronic materials and solar-cell production. They are part of the wider specialty-materials business. Our custom metals range includes these materials alongside other high-purity metals and alloys.
Rare earth metals are the 17-element family whose individual members support different magnetic, optical, and chemical functions. To understand a material correctly, connect the element, its chemical form, and the component’s job. That explains both why rare earths matter and why one rare earth product cannot automatically replace another.
Need High-Purity Metals or a Custom Alloy for Your Application?
If your project involves specialty metals or a custom alloy, send Custom Rare Metal the specification and the job it needs to do. The same checks on material identity, form, and impurities apply to our range of materials such as indium, bismuth, tellurium, copper, tin, and zinc, together with custom alloys for research and industrial use.
To help us assess the relevant material, form, and impurity requirements, include:
Material: element, compound, or alloy name and chemical formula or composition.
Purity: target grade and any key impurity limits.
Form and size: powder particle size, foil thickness, wire diameter, or a drawing where relevant.
Application: how the material will be processed and used.
Quantity: sample or production amount, destination, and required delivery date.
Discuss Your Material Requirements
Or email sales@customraremetal.com with your specification or drawing.
Rare Earth Metals FAQs
Are Lithium and Cobalt Rare Earth Metals?
No. Lithium and cobalt are not members of the 17-element rare earth family. They are often discussed alongside rare earths because all can matter to energy technologies. That shared application context does not make them the same chemical group. For a vehicle, identify the battery chemistry and motor materials separately.
Do Solar Panels Need Rare Earth Metals?
The main light-absorbing materials in ordinary silicon, cadmium telluride, and CIGS solar cells are not rare earth elements. CdTe contains cadmium and tellurium; CIGS contains copper, indium, gallium, and selenium. None of those elements belongs to the rare earth family.
The Department of Energy’s photovoltaic cell overview describes these material systems. Rare earths can appear in specialized optical or experimental materials, but that is a different claim from saying that every solar panel needs them in its main semiconductor layer.
Are Rare Earth Metals Radioactive?
Radioactivity depends on the element and isotope. Promethium has no stable isotopes; some other rare earths have both stable and long-lived radioactive isotopes. For example, the Royal Society of Chemistry’s references distinguish promethium from the isotope mix of samarium.
A separate issue is uranium or thorium associated with some rare earth ores. These elements are not rare earths, but their presence affects processing and waste management. Radiation characteristics belong to the actual material and its isotope or impurity composition.
Are There 7 or 17 Rare Earth Metals?
The full rare earth family used in this article has 17 elements. A claim about “seven rare earths” needs the original list and context. It may refer to a selected group, or it may confuse rare earths with another materials category. Compare the named elements with the table above rather than assuming that every seven-element list describes the same group. A list of 15 usually means the lanthanides alone.
Can Rare Earth Metals Be Recycled?
Yes. Rare earths can be recovered from suitable manufacturing scrap and end-of-life materials, including permanent magnets and selected battery or lighting materials. Collection, disassembly, composition, and contamination affect the recovery process.
A separated magnet is a different recycling feed from mixed electronic waste containing many plastics, metals, and tiny components. Recovering a useful material requires the right feed preparation and separation process; the presence of rare earths alone does not establish whether a particular waste stream is economical to recycle.
Can Other Materials Replace Rare Earth Metals?
Sometimes, but the replacement must provide the required function. It may require redesigning a component rather than exchanging one metal for another. For example, induction and switched-reluctance motors offer approaches that do not require rare earth permanent magnets.
The Department of Energy’s motor overview explains these different architectures. Size, control requirements, efficiency, noise, and operating conditions affect the choice. The same approach applies elsewhere: define the optical, chemical, or magnetic job before judging a substitute.
Why Don’t Rare Earth Metals Have One Price?
A useful quote must name the element, chemical form, purity basis, physical specification, and quantity. Neodymium metal, neodymium oxide powder, and a finished NdFeB magnet are different products, so a price per kilogram does not make them directly comparable.
For comparable offers, send the same specification and include the destination and required delivery date. Ask each supplier to identify its quotation date, delivery terms, and what the price includes. This gives you a basis for comparing the actual material and supply conditions.
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