MATERIALS PERSPECTIVE

Magnesium: commodity or exotic?

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

J. F. King*
The structural use of magnesium through the 20th century is briefly reviewed, highlighting
fluctuating levels of development and use influenced by military applications in two World Wars.
Development of more efficient processes, improved corrosion resistant alloys and availability of
lower cost metal now offer potential for major expansion in magnesium consumption in the 21st
century. A review of current worldwide use indicates major growth in structural transport
applications. Apart from the obvious advantage of light weight, other important attributes making
magnesium an attractive contender for transport applications are considered. Requirements for
magnesium to compete effectively as a commodity material are reviewed. Key areas for
development are commercial transport, aerospace and high performance uses. The most
important is commercial transport. Significant developments in alloy technology and applications
for die casting are described and more speculative growth in use of wrought components
discussed. A similar review and analysis of developments for aerospace and high performance
applications is given. Alloys developed and properties achieved differ significantly from those
considered for higher volume commercial applications and include highly sophisticated alloying
and manufacturing technology. Although the main theme is magnesiums potential as a
commodity material, more exotic applications of magnesium alloys are reviewed. These include
electrochemical alloys, space and missile applications, composite materials, non-equilibrium
alloys and medical uses. Finally, the future priorities for development of technology and
applications are examined by reference to a recent UK road mapping exercise, which was in
general accord with similar exercises in Japan, Germany and the USA.
Keywords: Magnesium, Magnesium alloys, Applications, Physical metallurgy, Properties, Automotive, Aerospace, Alloy development, Process
development

Introduction
Although the discovery of magnesium was credited to
Sir H. Davy as long ago as 1808, it was only in the 20th
century that the metal was produced in significant
industrial quantities. From a total of only ,10 t y21 at
the beginning of the century, production increased with
many fluctuations to ,400 kt y21 in 2000. Although
this is still small compared with competitor metals such
as aluminium, magnesium forms the basis of an active
and important global industry, which has significant
growth potential over the next decade and beyond.
Despite this, there is a surprising lack of knowledge of
the attributes and benefits of magnesium: even within
the technical industries that could most benefit, it is still
often seen as an expensive exotic material. While this
may have been true at various times in its history, this is
no longer the case.
Magnesium has always been a metal with a wide
variety of applications and it has been the relative
importance of these individual uses that has governed

Formerly Technical Manager, Magnesium Elektron, Swinton, Manchester,

UK *Corresponding author, email jking.mel@btopenworld.com

2007 Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 25 November 2005; accepted 1 July 2006
DOI 10.1179/174328407X154374

the pace and direction of its development. Initial interest

was in its brilliant white flame for photography and
pyrotechnics. This was followed by the discovery of its
benefits for desulphurising and deoxidising of heavy
metals, then its use as a strengthening addition to
aluminium based alloys.
Magnesium development has been spurred by military
uses, particularly during active wartime and Cold War
periods. Thus, in the First World War, there was a huge
demand for magnesium in tracer bullets and star shells
and also in aluminium alloy components for early
military aircraft and vehicles. Around the time of the
Second World War, Germany was the technology
leader, responsible for the development of more efficient
electrolytic reduction and use of early structural
magnesium based alloys.
From ,32 kt in 1938, production in Germany and
the rest of the world had increased to ,228 kt by
194344.1 This level of production was short lived
and had slumped to 10 kt y21 at the end of the war
because large amounts of wartime scrap were available
for use.
By this time, most of the major applications for
magnesium had been established and technically demonstrated, although they were not necessarily commercially

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Magnesium: commodity or exotic

viable. For many years after the Second World War,

magnesium was still regarded as a strategic material and
held in stockpiles by both Western and Eastern bloc
countries, which inhibited competitive commercial pricing. The main growth in use was for alloying in
aluminium and this largely dictated the volume production of magnesium, growth mirroring that of structural
aluminium alloys and particularly aluminium beverage
cans. Price was also heavily influenced by the aluminium
industry, most of the time at levels that made
commercial structural alloys uneconomic in comparison,
particularly, with aluminium.
However, by 2000, a number of developments had
occurred that could significantly change that situation.
These were:
(i) development of high purity corrosion resistant
commercial alloys on an industrial scale
(ii) environmental pressure on automotive manufacturers to reduce pollution by weight
reduction
(iii) development of more efficient electrochemical
reduction of magnesium by Western world
manufacturers
(iv) availability of lower priced magnesium from
China.
The stage was now set for magnesium development to
take on a new lease of life. This has been eloquently
described in detail elsewhere.13 The purpose of the
present perspective is not to provide another historical
review, but to outline the current status of magnesium as
a structural metal in its own right and present some
views on how that status has occurred, how wider use of
magnesium could be economically and environmentally
beneficial and what needs to be carried out to further
develop magnesium usage.

Current magnesium usage

Statistics have been compiled annually for many years
by the International Magnesium Association. These list
Western world usage and are reliable to indicate overall
trends, although they do not take account of internal
usage in China or Russia where figures are not
published. Table 1, using data from 2004,4 compares
usage from 1993 to 2003. Total demand in 2003 reached
an all time high at 387 kt, a 57% increase over the
10 years. Some 90% of use is concentrated in three main
areas: aluminium alloying, desulphurising of iron and
steel and die casting. While the first two have shown a
steady growth, there has been a massive increase in die
casting use, equivalent to year on year growth of 11.5%.
This rapid increase, owing almost entirely to automotive
use, is still forecast to continue over the next few years
(Fig. 1).5 This will mean that, for the first time, the

1 Worldwide market for magnesium alloy die cast parts

during 19912008

major use of magnesium will be as a structural material

in its own right rather than as a mere alloying element
for aluminium.
Use of structural magnesium alloys has been established in other areas, particularly aerospace, for many
years. Gravity cast and wrought alloys are both used to
a limited extent. Volumes are currently small (Table 2),4
but new commercial and technical developments could
again permit substantial growth.

Why use magnesium

Physical metallurgy and classification of
magnesium alloys
The physical metallurgy of magnesium and its effect on
alloying performance and properties have been reviewed
in detail in a number of sources.68 Major factors
influencing the development and use of magnesium as a
structural metal may be summarised as follows.
First, the magnesium lattice is hexagonal. The basal
plane is close packed and the axial ratio (Table 3) is only
slightly greater than the theoretical value for incompressible spheres. At ambient temperatures, deformation
Table 2 Western world usage of magnesium in minor
applications, 2003
Application

Usage, kt

Fraction of total
usage (387 kt), %

Wrought
Nodular iron
Gravity casting
Chemical
Electrochemical
Unspecified
Total

8
5
4
4
2
17
40

2.1
1.3
1.0
1.0
0.5
4.4
10.3

Table 1 Western world demand for magnesium during 19932003

Usage, kt

Fraction of total, %

Application

1993

2003

1993

2003

Growth 19932003, %

Aluminium alloying
Die casting
Iron/steel desulphurising
Others
Total

120
40
40
47
247

140
137
70
40
387

48.6
16.2
16.2
11.6
100

36.2
35.4
18.1
10.3
100

z17
z342
z75
215
z57

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is therefore restricted to basal slip and twinning on

pyramidal planes. Pure magnesium and some conventionally cast alloys show a tendency for low ductility
owing to intercrystalline fracture and transgranular
fracture at twin zones or basal planes in large grains.
However, at temperatures above 225uC, many more slip
planes come into play and extensive deformation can
occur, permitting easy higher temperature forming. In
practical terms, poor ambient temperature formability
has led to a greater use of magnesium in cast applications than wrought.
Second, the atomic diameter of magnesium
(0.320 nm) suggests the potential to form solid solutions
with a broad range of other elements with a favourable
(15%) difference in atomic diameter. This is, in fact,
the case. Significant solubility of aluminium and zinc led
to development of a range of useful, relatively low cost
alloys containing these elements, which have been in use
for many years. Specific properties of these alloys, for
example, creep and higher temperature performance,
can be further enhanced by adding elements such as
manganese, silicon, calcium, rare earths (REs) or
strontium.9
Finally, another important aspect of magnesium
metallurgy is the large effect of grain size on properties.
The HallPetch coefficient is approximately four times
that for aluminium alloys. This is probably related to the
limited number of slip systems available and the relative
importance of grain boundary strengthening. In this
regard, the discovery of the powerful grain refining
effect of zirconium in magnesium has had a major
impact. Three factors combine to make this phenomenon highly effective:10
(i) the close similarity of the lattice parameters of
magnesium and zirconium (Table 3)
(ii) the development of practical techniques to
maximise solubility of zirconium in liquid
magnesium (.0.6 wt-%)
(iii) the presence of a peritectic reaction between
zirconium and magnesium close to the freezing
point, which produces zirconium rich nuclei of
an optimum size for grain refinement during
solidification.
While zirconium and aluminium are not compatible
owing to mutual precipitation in liquid magnesium, the
development of a broad range of non-aluminium
containing alloy families has been possible with a wider
range of useful properties (e.g. MgZnREZr, Mg
AgREZr and MgYReZr). Some of these alloys
and their properties are discussed below.
To identify specific magnesium alloys, a classification
system introduced by ASTM is almost universally used.
The two major alloying elements have designated letters
(Table 4) followed by their respective rounded composition in wt-%, e.g. AZ91 is nominal Mg9Al1Zn
0.3Mn. This nomenclature is used for alloys discussed
below.
Table 3 Lattice
parameters
zirconium*

Mg
Zr

for

magnesium

a, nm

c, nm

c/a

Structure

0.320
0.323

0.514
0.520

1.604
1.610

hcp
hcp

*hcp5hexagonal close packed.

and

Magnesium: commodity or exotic

Useful attributes of magnesium

Many attributes make the use of magnesium attractive,
the most important of which has always been light
weight (Table 5). With a density only two-thirds that of
aluminium and one-quarter that of steel, it is an
attractive option in transport applications.
However, a number of other positive attributes that
may be less appreciated further enhance the benefit of
magnesium use. These may be listed as follows:
(i) strength: static and dynamic properties compare
favourably with competitive materials. Specific
strength is better than most other engineering
materials or plastics (Fig. 2). Specific stiffness is
greater than all other common engineering
materials (Fig. 3). Many alloys have better
temperature stability than aluminium alloys
(ii) damping: some alloys have extremely high
damping capacity. Some gravity cast alloys are
used for vibration free platforms in metrology
and satellite applications. Even commercial die
cast magnesium alloys have better damping
than competitor materials such as steel or
aluminium. Coupled with low weight and
inertia, this reduces vibration and resonance in
moving parts, e.g. reduced noise and vibration
in automotives. One example of this is the now
almost universal use of die cast magnesium
alloy cores for vehicle steering wheels
(iii) castability: most alloys have excellent castability
and uniformity of properties in various section
thicknesses and can be cast by all current
casting processes. Figure 4 illustrates the range
of castings currently possible
(iv) formability: although magnesium is relatively
difficult to form at ambient temperatures, at
elevated temperatures it can be easily rolled to
plate and thin sheet or extruded, forged or
pressed to intricate profiles
(v) machinability: alloys can be machined faster
than any other engineering metal (Table 6).
Magnesium can be machined dry or with
compatible standard coolants. Chips, etc., can
be recycled in volume production
(vi) weldability: most alloys are weldable by conventional argon arc [metal inert gas (MIG)/
tungsten inert gas (TIG)] techniques. They are
also amenable to laser welding, friction stir
welding and other state of the art techniques
Table 4 ASTM designation letters for magnesium alloys
Designation
Aluminium
Copper
Rare earth
Thorium
Strontium
Zirconium
Lithium
Manganese
Silver
Silicon
Gadolinium
Yttrium
Zinc

A
C
E
H
J
K
L
M
Q
S
V
W
Z

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Magnesium: commodity or exotic

2 Specific strength of selected structural materials

3 Specific stiffness of selected structural materials

(vii) corrosion: untreated magnesium is more corrosion resistant than steel in normal environments. Modern high purity alloys have
corrosion resistance comparable with conventional aluminium alloys (Fig. 5). For more
severe environments, effective protection measures are available
Table 5 Density of common structural materials
Specific gravity
Magnesium alloys
Aluminium alloys
Zinc (die cast alloys)
Cast iron
Titanium
Structural plastics

1.8
2.8
6.6
7.2
4.5
1.01.7*

*Depends on filler/reinforcement.

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(viii) recycling: scrap and components can be recycled to the same high purity and quality
standards as primary alloy. Long term use
therefore has minimal environmental impact
and significant energy savings, which are key
factors for use in transport and commercial
applications
(ix) availability: magnesium is the sixth most
abundant element and readily exploitable
resources are available worldwide. Most
widely used sources are magnesite (MgCO3),
dolomite
(MgCO3.CaCO3 ),
carnallite
(KCl.MgCl2.6H2O) and various MgCl2 containing brines, including sea water, which contains
,1.1 kg m23 Mg even before concentration.
Most of these sources can be converted to
magnesium leaving only non-toxic and nonpolluting byproducts. Even minerals such as

King

Magnesium: commodity or exotic

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

4 a range of small die cast components from several grams upwards and b sand cast main gearbox for Sikorsky S92
helicopter (130 kg)

5 Comparative corrosion rates of gravity cast magnesium and aluminium alloys

serpentine from asbestos tailings can be efficiently exploited.11

With all these apparent benefits, it is perhaps surprising
that magnesium use is not significantly higher. There are
a number of reasons for this.

Magnesium as commodity
To compete effectively as a commodity material,
magnesium would have to be freely available on a
worldwide basis at a cost competitive with comparable
commodities, supported by an international network
capable of supplying commercial and technical support
and continuing development. Because the major competitive advantage of magnesium is its low density, its
major competitor is inevitably aluminium. Even a
cursory comparison with aluminium indicates how far
back in the field magnesium is and to continue the racing
metaphor, how many hurdles have still to be jumped to
be in the same race.
Table 6 Relative power required to machine engineering
alloys: normallised to Mg at unity
Relative power
Magnesium alloys
Aluminium alloys
Brass
Cast iron
Mild steel
Nickel alloys

1.0
1.8
2.3
3.5
6.3
10.0

Against this background, it may be disconcerting to

note that for aluminium to remain profitable as a mature
industry, it has been necessary to merge and consolidate
on a worldwide basis, focusing on the largest scale and
most efficient production plants. Research and development have similarly been consolidated and focused,
even though recent industry roadmaps indicate much
still to be carried out.12 The magnesium industry, in
contrast, is fragmented. Table 7 shows world production
of magnesium in 2003 and changes that have occurred
since 1990. The most significant of these is the
emergence of China as the major and currently lowest
cost world supplier. Chinese magnesium is almost
exclusively made by thermal reduction of dolomite by
ferrosilicon, using low cost energy derived from coal.
While it is unlikely that this situation can be maintained
economically or environmentally in the long term, it has
forced the closure of most of the older, less efficient
electrolytic reduction plants in the Western world and
delayed or postponed the development of newer, higher
efficiency plants planned to meet recent growth forecasts. While this has driven the price of basic magnesium
to a level similar to that of basic aluminium, making it
more attractive to potential users, it has not helped the
case for concerted R&D effort within the industry.
However, road mapping exercises carried out in
Japan, Germany and the UK1315 have reached reasonable consensus on key areas for magnesium applications
and development effort. The two most important are:
(i) commercial transport
(ii) aerospace and high performance uses.

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Magnesium: commodity or exotic

Commercial transport is by far the most important

application for magnesium in volume terms. The
extent to which this market develops will ultimately
dictate whether magnesium becomes a significant commodity product. The best way to illustrate this is to
review what has been achieved in this area and what is
still needed.

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

Magnesium in commercial transport

Use of magnesium in commercial vehicles is not new. As
early as in the 1930s, magnesium components were being
used. In 1972, magnesium alloy use at Volkswagen (VW)
in Germany peaked at 42 kt y21, largely owing to its
extensive use in the air cooled crankcase, gearbox
housings and other components in the VW Beetle.
However, economic factors and the need for higher
temperature alloys in water cooled engines dramatically
reduced its use until the 1990s when other developments
took effect.
The first of these was the improvement in corrosion
performance of the existing standard commercial alloys
such as AZ91 (Mg9Al1Zn0.25Mn) and AM60 (Mg
6Al0.4Mn) commonly used for high pressure die
casting (HPDC). The effect of heavy metal impurities
such as iron, nickel and copper on the corrosion
behaviour of magnesium alloys, and the existence of
tolerance limits below which low corrosion rates could
be maintained, were well known.16 The need for better
corrosion resistance in structural alloys, particularly for
the automotive industry, encouraged the primary
producers to develop industrial scale techniques to
remove heavy metal impurities and to designate and
market new high purity alloys with corrosion resistance
similar to that of equivalent conventional aluminium
based alloys. The scale of this improvement is illustrated
in Fig. 5, which compares the old basic commercial
casting alloy AZ91C, with its high purity (i.e. low iron,
nickel, copper and silicon) counterpart AZ91E. This
permitted automotive manufacturers to use magnesium
components in the same way as aluminium without
resort to expensive protective systems.
Table 7 World magnesium production during 19902003, kt
Producer

Country

Available 1990

New since 1990

Available 2003

Dow Magnesium
US Magnesium (Magcorp)
Northwest Alloys
Hydro Magnesium
Timminco
Magnola
Magcan
Hydro Magnesium
Pechiney
Dead Sea Magnesium
Bela Stena
SAIM
Brasmag
JMC
Ube
Russian Exports
Chinese Exports
Usk-Kamenogorsk
India
Total

USA
USA
USA
Canada
Canada
Canada
Canada
Norway
France
Israel
Serbia
Italy
Brazil
Japan
Japan
Russia
China
Kazakhstan
India

86
30
30
40
7

43
15

3
7
11
7
9
5
0

1
294

13
13
8

58
12

3
33

30
158
5
0.5
333.5

43

48
7
*

33
3

11

35
158{
5
1.5
344.5

*Shut down 2003.

{Export capability considerably higher.

Similar improvements for more complex high performance alloys (e.g. ZE41 and EZ33 v. newer alloys WE43
and WE54) were also achieved.
The second development was the focus of the
automotive industry on the effects of engine emissions
on the environment and global warming in particular. In
the USA, corporate average fuel economy regulations
were introduced: 27.5 miles per US gallon for cars in
1990 and 20.7 miles per US gallon for trucks in 1996.
European manufacturers agreed to a more stringent
target of 27% reduction by 2008, which equates to 5.7 L/
100 km or 42 miles per US gallon.
Because, by general consensus in the automotive
industry, a 10% weight saving yields 510% fuel saving,
weight became a key factor in design and evaluation
of the weight saving potential of magnesium was
intensified.
The third development, triggered by the huge growth
potential of automotive use, was a rapid expansion of
potential magnesium production capacity with new
production facilities proposed worldwide where access
to low cost power and ores was available, notably in
Australia and Canada. Efficient facilities using state of
the art electrolytic cell technology could offer lower
magnesium prices. Unfortunately for Western producers, China was able to offer even lower prices using
easily established low capital cost thermal reduction
facilities, which although not necessarily environmentally or power efficient, grew rapidly from backyard
operations to more sophisticated facilities capable of
supplying both basic magnesium and alloys to Western
standards. This has had the effect of putting many of the
planned Western facilities on hold, but from the users
point of view, has ensured supply at a cost that can
make magnesium components not only technically
superior but also economically competitive.
Most use of magnesium so far has been as HPDCs.
The standard die casting alloys such as AZ91D, AM60B
and AM50B are ideally suited to the HPDC process.
With a relatively wide freezing range, they have excellent
castability, particularly for thin sections. Absence of

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Magnesium: commodity or exotic

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

6 High pressure die cast magnesium alloy automotive components

reaction with steel dies and low thermal capacity allow

them to be cast with high throughput and low die wear.
The good range of strength and ductility has enabled
magnesium components to be used in a wide range of
applications, as illustrated in Fig. 6. These include major
body components such as cross-beam members and
dashboard supports where a single cast component can
replace previous multicomponent steel fabrications cost
effectively. Such components are now well established
and are forecast to increase in usage.
However, to get further benefit from weight savings, it
is necessary for magnesium to penetrate the engine and
transmission applications where temperatures exceed the
limit of stability of the standard MgAl type alloys
(,120uC). This has led to intense competition among
producers and some users to develop the ideal alloy.
This development and its current status have been
reviewed in detail elsewhere.9,17 Technically, there is no
major obstacle to increasing the temperature stability of
magnesium alloys. In fact, alloys with long term stability
at temperatures up to 250uC have been in use in some
high performance applications for many years, as
discussed below. However, it should be noted that in
the context of commercial alloys for the automotive
industry, three main criteria must be fulfilled:
(i) they must be cost competitive with commercial
alternatives
(ii) they must have corrosion resistance similar to
comparable aluminium alloys or current high
purity magnesium alloys
(iii) they must achieve target properties in the as die
cast state without further heat treatment.
The cost criterion immediately limits options to alloy
systems containing aluminium or zinc as major alloying
elements, with other relatively low cost elements such
as manganese, calcium, silicon, cerium, lanthanum and
strontium as minor additions. Any more exotic elements
could be present only in very low concentrations.
All these options have been explored with varying
degrees of success. Examples of most recent production
applications for such new alloys are the DaimlerChrysler 7G-Tronic automatic gearbox (Fig. 7), which
will be used in the Mercedes range, and the new BMW

straight-6 composite Al/Mg alloy engine block (Fig. 8)

being introduced into Bavarian Motor Works (BMW)
series production.
The Daimler application uses an alloy AS31 (Mg
3Al1Si). This is not the most creep resistant alloy in the
MgAlSi system but is the result of a compromise
between a moderate increase in creep resistance and
minimised loss of castability which improves with
increasing aluminium content. Careful design to exploit
available properties is also important.
BMW has used a more creep resistant alloy, AJ62
(Mg6Al2Sr0.4Mn), developed by Noranda Inc., for
its engine block, while retaining an aluminium alloy core

7 Daimler-Chrysler 7G-Tronic automatic gearbox: magnesium alloy AS31

8 BMW composite engine block: magnesium alloy AJ62

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Magnesium: commodity or exotic

in the cylinder and crankshaft bearing area. Again, trade

offs have been made between creep resistance and
castability, but use of magnesium has achieved a weight
saving of 10 kg in the engine block.
Other alloys with improved creep resistance based on
the conventional AZ91 alloy with a cocktail of RE,
strontium and calcium additions have been jointly
developed by VW and Dead Sea Magnesium and may
soon be introduced in some VW engine or transmission
components.
An ideal solution for the magnesium industry would
be to develop a universal high temperature alloy
capable of meeting all reasonable automotive design
requirements, as is the case for aluminium where the die
casting alloy A380 or its equivalents are almost
universally used for higher temperature components.
Information published by Noranda18 compares properties of some creep resistant magnesium alloys with those
of conventional magnesium alloy AZ91 and the
aluminium alloy A380 (Table 8). These and other data
show the significant improvements achieved in magnesium alloys, in some cases matching A380 in term of
creep and corrosion resistance. However, the overall
universal package of properties remains a holy grail for
the magnesium industry. In the immediate future, the
fragmentation of the supply base and the search for
competitive edge are likely to lead to a proliferation
of alloys in individual applications. In view of the fact
that each use of magnesium in a volume car series
application generates tens of thousands of tonnes of new
demand, this is beneficial, but in the long term is not
helpful in maintaining an efficient low cost volume
market.
While the growth of magnesium die casting applications seems assured, there are other applications, such as
wheels, suspension arms, subframes, etc., where significant weight saving could be achieved but which
require higher integrity than that provided by the HPDC
process. In common with aluminium based alloys,
magnesium alloys can be cast by gravity, low pressure,
squeeze casting and a range of semisolid processes to
produce high integrity components. Development is very
limited compared with aluminium and there are no
current volume applications.19 However, one process of
particular current interest is rheocasting, developed at
Brunel University in the UK.20 This process involves the
production of a very stable and homogeneous semisolid

slurry using a twin screw mixer. The slurry can then be

injected into a die for HPDC or into alternative moulds
or dies to form final shape components or pseudowrought profiles. The process has been proven on a
laboratory scale for both aluminium and magnesium,
but is particularly suited to magnesium. The potential of
the process for die casting is now being evaluated for
production castings in a project involving, among
others, Ford/Jaguar as end users, Meridian as component producers and Magnesium Elektron as a material
supplier. It is hoped that a further expansion of the
range of magnesium applications will result.
The other significant untapped area of application for
magnesium in modern transport is for wrought alloy
components as extrusions or sheet; these uses are not
new. Magnesium alloys were widely used in the1950s
and 1960s in aircraft, particularly military aircraft, as
sheet in the fuselage and in a variety of extruded and
forged components. However, a combination of inadequate alloys, particularly from the point of view of
corrosion, and unfavourable economics, led to its
replacement in most of these applications by aluminium.
The availability of corrosion resistant alloys and an
improved price ratio with aluminium now make
magnesium use a feasible proposition again. For
automotive chassis and body applications, magnesium
offers a number of attractions. In terms of specific
strength and stiffness, and buckling resistance, magnesium alloys compare favourably with both steel and
aluminium. Most recent work has been carried out by
the German automotive industry with considerable
Government support.14 Table 9, based on studies
sponsored by VW,21 derives coefficients for equal
strength and stiffness for an automotive aluminium
alloy (AlMgSi) and a magnesium alloy AZ31 (Mg
3Al1Zn) v. a standard steel [St 1403, equivalent to a
Euronorm DC04 (Fe P 04) or SAE1006]. This shows
that, for components where good flexural or buckling
stiffness is required, e.g. in body panels, use of
magnesium could give weight savings up to 50%
compared with steel and even 20% compared with
aluminium. While the use of St 1403 as a comparator in
this instance rather than one of the higher strength steels
now available for auto body panels may accentuate the
advantage of magnesium, the basic premise remains
valid. The technical feasibility of such applications
has been demonstrated (Fig. 9). German government

Table 8 Comparison of tensile, creep and corrosion properties of die cast magnesium alloys and aluminium alloy
A380*
Tensile properties

Creep resistance

150uC

175uC

35 MPa and 200 h

Alloy

UTS, MPa YS, MPa El, % UTS, MPa YS, MPa El, % 150uC

A380
AZ91D
AE42
AS41
AJ51X
AJ52X
AJ50X

255
170
142
153
149
164
152

149
105
87
94
102
108
101

6
18
23
17
17
14
6

248
138
121
127
133
148
137

154
89
81
85
97
103
98

7
21
23
18
21
15
20

0.18
1.21
0.07
0.13
0.07
0.03
0.12

50 MPa and 150uC

175uC

200 h

500 h

Corrosion rate,
mg cm22 d21

0.15
1.84
0.14
0.50
0.05
0.09
0.06

0.08
2.7
0.06
0.45
0.07
0.03
0.05

0.099
6.35
0.084
0.735
0.092
0.033
0.09

0.34
0.10
0.21
0.16
0.14
0.09
0.13

*ASTM flat subsize HPDC tensile specimens (average of five results); YS5yield strength; UTS5ultimate tensile strength;
EL5elongation.

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9 Inner door panel for VW manufactured from magnesium alloy sheet by Salzgitter-Magnesium

supported multipartner projects, such as InMaK22 and

ULM23, have developed technology for the integration
of wrought and cast magnesium components in body
structures and evaluated the process chain required for
manufacture of ultralight weight magnesium sheet
components respectively, including the manufacture
and testing of demonstrator components. European
automotive suppliers, such as Wagon, have demonstrated all-magnesium solutions for door assemblies
with considerable weight saving.
Long standing issues of adequate corrosion resistance
have been addressed by the introduction of high purity
alloys, so that most cast components can be used in the
unprotected condition, except where cosmetic coatings
are required. Rolled or extruded body components
obviously need both damage and corrosion resistant
coatings, in common with steel or aluminium alternatives. Suitable chromium containing dip pretreatments have been available for many years, but are no
longer environmentally acceptable for large volume
applications. In parallel with other magnesium development work, this issue is being addressed. Low cost
treatments based on fluorozirconates, phosphate
permanganate and organometallic titanium/zirconium
are being evaluated with promising results.2426 For
more exacting applications, hard ceramic coatings
applied by new anodic processes such as Keronite and
Magoxid have been proved extremely effective.27,28

Magnesium: commodity or exotic

Unfortunately for magnesium, the main automotive criterion is still price competitiveness and not
just technical benefit. Although the price of basic
magnesium is now comparable with aluminium, this
does not currently apply to wrought products.
Processing requirements for both materials are basically
similar, but there is a huge gulf in production scale
between the two.
A recent study29 comparing prices of equivalent
extruded automotive profiles indicated a final cost for
magnesium more than three times that of aluminium
(Table 10). Even allowing for density factors, it would
be necessary to halve the finished price of magnesium
products to meet auto original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) targets. A similar analysis also applies to
magnesium sheet prices.
This is a classic Catch 22. Extruded magnesium
profiles are currently manufactured on a batch made to
order basis by a handful of suppliers worldwide. The
major world supplier of sheet and plate is currently
Magnesium Elektron (North America), based in the
USA. While this plant was originally established postSecond World War to manufacture magnesium alloy
aircraft sheet and other products and has the capability to make automotive sheet, current requirements
are mainly restricted to plate and sheet for photoengraving, and sheet for sea water operated batteries. In
the absence of any significant demand, there is no
existing infrastructure for the supply of sheet or profiles on a large commercial volume basis. Ideally, scale
up and infrastructure would develop with increasing
demand and this would result in a downward trend
in price, which would further develop demand. The
reality is that the automotive industry would use it
now if it were available at a competitive price, but
neither user nor supplier has the necessary capital to
establish the appropriate large scale equipment. Government or regional funding would be helpful in this
respect; in Germany, a new rolling facility has been
established by Saltzgitter AG30 with some government
support.
Bold moves are required to break this deadlock. It
may be possible to utilise newer technology to make a
step change in production costs without resorting to
large scale up of conventional equipment. One example

Table 9 Mass equivalent property comparison of steel, aluminium and magnesium sheet
Stiffness tension bending
mass coefficient*

St 1403
AlMgSiIF32
AZ31B-O

Strength tension bending

mass coefficient*

Density
r, g cm23

Youngs modulus
E, GPa

0.2% proof stress

Rp0.2, MPa

r/E

r/E3/2

r/Rp0.2

r/(Rp0.2)1/2

7.85
2.7
1.8

210
70
45

210
255
199

1
1.03
1.07

1
0.50
0.38

1
0.28
0.24

1
0.31
0.24

*Relative to St 1403.
Table 10 Price comparison for magnesium and aluminium extruded automotive profiles, J kg21

Alloy
Billet cost [direct chill (DC) casting]
Billet price
Extrusion cost
Profile price

Aluminium alloy

Magnesium alloy

Target for magnesium alloy

1.5
0.30.5
1.82.0
1.22.0
3.04.0

2.02.5
4.04.5
6.08.0
4.07.0
10.015.0

1.8
1.22.2
3.04.0
2.04.0
5.08.0

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Magnesium: commodity or exotic

10 Rheoprocessing technology proposed for wrought magnesium

is the use of roll casting technology to manufacture sheet

without the need for large scale slab casting and
breakdown rolling mills. This technology is being
actively explored by the Thyssen Group in Germany,
which has established a development production
facility to make roll cast magnesium sheet utilising steel
roll casting knowhow31 and by CSIRO in Australia,
which is seeking funding to build a production scale roll
caster based on a successful laboratory/development
unit.
Another possibility is to utilise the rheocasting
technology described above.20 Originally developed for
enhanced die casting, more recent work has shown that
the process could also be utilised to improve extrusion or
forging characteristics of magnesium billet or to make
wrought type profiles direct from liquid metal in
combination with extrusion or roll casting processes. If
these improvements were proved on a practical production scale, the process could offer another way of
rapidly scaling up wrought production without building
large facilities, as suggested in the predictions of the
developers (Fig. 10).

11 Improvement of creep
alloys since 1930s

10

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Magnesium in aerospace and high performance

uses
As in commercial automotive applications, the use of
magnesium in aerospace is not new. Cast and wrought
alloys have been used since their early development, in
both engines and airframes, probably reaching their
heyday in the 1960s.
The demand for ultimate performance, particularly in
military aircraft, missiles and other hardware from the
Second World War through the Cold War period,
generated a requirement for better and better magnesium alloys, particularly with respect to strength and
high temperature performance. Free of the commercial
restraints of cost, this has permitted some startling
improvements in properties, as illustrated in Fig. 11.
Current state of the art alloys now have significantly
higher creep strength at 250uC than the early alloys had
at 150uC. Most of the Western world development in
magnesium casting alloys was spearheaded by one UK
company, Magnesium Elektron. Since the 1940s, the
company has maintained an alloy development programme. Originally, when military imperatives were
strategically important, this programme was generously
funded by a succession of government departments. In
more recent years, a more modest programme has been
internally funded as a commercial necessity to maintain
magnesium applications in competition with other
materials.
From the initial development of practical methods of
grain refining magnesium alloys with zirconium, new
families of alloys were developed containing increasingly
exotic elements with the emphasis on increasing strength
and temperature resistance in alloys with good castability in ever more complex castings.32 Almost all the
magnesium alloys used in high integrity or higher
temperature aerospace applications in the West derive
from this work. In terms of properties, the culmination
of this development was the introduction in the 1980s
of magnesium alloys containing yttrium with specific
mixtures of RE elements (e.g. WE54: Mg5Y1.75Nd
1.25HREZr and WE43: Mg4Y2.25Nd1.0HREZr),

King

Magnesium: commodity or exotic

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

12 Main gearcase casting for Eurocopter EC120 helicopter: magnesium alloy WE43

where HRE indicates heavy RE elements. These alloys

not only have corrosion resistance equal to that of
competitive aluminium based alloys (Fig. 5) but can also
outperform them at higher temperatures.33 As a result,
WE43 castings are used in recent engine and transmission components in Europe and North America.
Examples of main gearbox castings are shown in
Figs. 4 and 12.
The slightly higher strength alloy WE54 is also used in
high performance automotive engine and transmission
components, e.g. Formula 1, rally cars.
This area of magnesium technology has been highly
developed relative to the commercial sector. Future
alloy development is likely to lead to diminishing returns
in respect of further improvements and is moving
beyond the resources of individual companies. At the
same time, increasing engine power and temperatures
restrict opportunities for magnesium to the cooler parts
of the engine in favour of higher temperature materials
such as stainless steel or titanium. There is therefore only
limited opportunity for further development except in
one aspect: that is cost!
In the 1960s and 1970s, performance was all and cost
was secondary. Complex aerospace alloys are expensive
to support, manufacture and to process for applications
which are low volume and which take many years to
develop to production. As a result, alloy costs are
several times higher than those of corresponding
commercial alloys, as illustrated in Fig. 13. This
differential has been highlighted by a significant reduction in price of the commercial alloys. Even though the

ultimate cost of the magnesium alloy case of a fully

assembled highly complex aircraft gearbox may be only
a few per cent of the total, there is strong pressure for
lower cost alloys, needless to say, without sacrifice of
properties!
Some move in this direction has been achieved by the
introduction in 2003 of an Mg2.7Nd1.3Gd0.6Zn
0.5Zr alloy, Elektron 21. By eliminating expensive
yttrium and further alloy modification, this alloy
achieves a substantial cost reduction with only a small
sacrifice of properties relative to the current WE43.34
Future substitution of this alloy may help to maintain
the commercial viability of magnesium in demanding
aerospace uses.
Use of wrought magnesium in airframes is now
almost non-existent. This is partly due to the negative
experiences from over 40 years ago but also to generally
lower strength compared with current more highly
developed aluminium alloys. There is still potential for
weight saving by magnesium use. This applies particularly to non-critical internal components (trolleys, seat
frames, racks, etc.). The power of new aircraft engines
appears to have relegated weight reduction below cost
for the moment. However, the availability of lower cost
wrought magnesium components, as discussed above for
the automotive industry, could change this view. For
more critical applications, further development is
required to address issues of alloy suitability with
respect to strength, corrosion and protection, particularly for galvanic corrosion issues in assemblies and
most importantly, generation of design data.

Magnesium as exotic
The main theme of the preceding discussion has been
why and how magnesium could become a more widely
used commodity metal. Nevertheless, it should be
recognised that magnesium has been in use in relatively
low volumes for over 50 years in a range of applications
that do not necessarily have low cost as a significant
criterion. Most of these rarely appear above the public
horizon and some may be regarded as exotic. A
number of examples worthy of note are as follows:

Electrochemical alloys

13 Relative prices of commercial and high

mance alloys

perfor-

Although not strictly structural applications, electrochemical alloys are used in various sea water activated
devices ranging from simple lifejacket light batteries,
fitted in all airline lifejackets, sonobuoy and radio
beacon batteries, to the highly sophisticated, high power

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magnesiumsilver chloride propulsion batteries currently used in the Royal Navys Stingray airdrop
torpedo.
Special alloys have been developed for these applications, designed to provide maximum voltage or power
output under specific conditions. Examples are AP65
(Mg6Al5Pb1Zn), AT61 (Mg6Al1Sn) and MTA75
(Mg7Tl5Al), all of which were developed in the UK in
the Cold War era.

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

Space and missile applications

Spacecraft and missiles have always had a requirement
for minimum weight materials to minimise lift off
weight. There is an continuing requirement for ultralightweight magnesiumlithium alloys such as LA141
(Mg14Li1Al) for space satellite platforms and electronic heat sinks where the alloys good damping capacity
and thermal conductivity contribute to high stability.
Such alloys with high lithium content are also interesting
because they have a body centred cubic lattice, in
contrast to the hexagonal lattice of most magnesium
alloys, and are therefore easily formable, even at room
temperature. Unfortunately, requirements tend to be
small and spasmodic, resulting in high production costs.
Lithium containing alloys tend to be relatively low
strength, particularly at elevated temperatures, and
recent attempts to generate wider interest in improved
magnesiumlithium alloys have not, so far, been
successful.35
High temperature sheet and other wrought components formerly used magnesium alloys containing
thorium. Such alloys are no longer available owing to
their radioactivity. However, interest has been expressed
in newer alloys such as WE54/WE43 with even better
strength and high temperature capability in forged or
extruded components. This may be an area for further
development with the rebirth of US space aspirations.

Composite materials
Composites with magnesium alloy matrices were thoroughly explored, in parallel with similar work undertaken on other light metals such as aluminium and
titanium, during the 1980s and 1990s. Only low density
reinforcements can be considered if a competitive
stiffness to weight ratio is to be maintained, owing to
the lower intrinsic Youngs modulus of magnesium. For
particulate reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs),
effective techniques were developed to manufacture
good quality homogeneous materials in both cast and
extruded forms36 on a development production scale.
Some interesting materials using magnesium alloy
matrices with silicon carbide reinforcement were developed in the UK under the trademark Melram.37 A range
of cast and wrought components was demonstrated,
including high performance cycle frames. Unfortunately,
while these excited considerable interest at the time,

volume requirements were insufficient to justify the

continuing production development and further matrix/
reinforcement research necessary to manufacture optimum products.
Ironically, interest still continues in possible MMC
applications, but in the absence of consistent products
for component evaluation, little progress has been made.
In the same time period, when research and development on MMC materials was at its most optimistic, and
before some of the attendant issues and problems had
become evident, continuous fibre MMC production was
demonstrated using alumina, silicon carbide and even
carbon fibre. Several significant government funded or
supported projects were undertaken in the USA and
Europe, but in common with parallel projects on
aluminium MMCs, these faded away as post-Cold
War military and aerospace interest turned from
ultimate performance to economy.

Non-equilibrium materials
Non-equilibrium materials produced by processes such
as melt spinning, ribbon casting, spray forming and
mechanical alloying also offer the potential for significantly enhanced properties. As for MMCs, magnesium alloys or components manufactured by these
techniques were researched and evaluated in the 1980s
and 1990s, when interest in such novel materials was at
its height.32,38 Several promising materials were developed (Table 11). In some cases, tensile strength to
weight ratio exceeded that of high strength wrought
aluminium alloys, offering the possibility of ultralightweight aircraft, missile or ordnance components. The
corrosion resistance of suitable alloys was also superior
to that of conventional alloys. One alloy, designated
EA55RS (Mg5Al5Zn5Nd), was developed to a
production scale in a UKUS joint venture.38 The
process involved manufacture of rapidly solidified (RS)
ribbon by a planar flow technique, comminution and
canning of the ribbon, hot vacuum compaction then
conventional extrusion using a 5000 t press. Long
lengths of extrusion, up to 55 mm in diameter or as
simple profiles, were produced and evaluated in conjunction with UK aerospace and ordnance manufacturers. Although the high strengths developed in
experimental materials were reproduced in larger scale
production, poor transverse fracture toughness performance was experienced. This could be improved by heat
treatment but only at the expense of other properties.
Further alloy and process development was necessary to
achieve a fully competitive product, but in the improving
Cold War climate of the time, interest in development to
push the boundaries of performance for military hardware was waning and funding dried-up before further
progress could be made. Academic interest remains high
in the possibilities of RS magnesium materials and

Table 11 Tensile properties of extruded RS magnesium alloys

Nominal composition, wt-%

Tensile properties

Al

Zn

Mn

RE

Extrusion
temperature, uC

10
9
5

3
0.7
5

2.5
0.15

6Ce

5Nd

250
200
200

Extrusion ratio

YS, MPa

UTS, MPa

El, %

Source*

20 : 1
20 : 1
15 : 1

431
409
460

468
500
508

14.9
6.2
12.5

1
2
3

*1. Lockheed data; 2. Norsk Hydro/Pechiney data; 3. Allied Signal data.

12

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related products such as metallic glasses and some small

scale speciality applications may yet arise. However, the
likelihood of industrial or governmental funding to
establish or re-establish the necessary industrial scale
manufacturing capability necessary for effective progress for volume production seems remote.

Medical applications

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

Medical applications are a more recent development for

magnesium alloys. Magnesium has a good biocompatibility which has been recently exploited for a range of
internal implants. Of particular interest is its use in
soluble stents for the repair of arteries. Devices require
significant materials development, precision engineering
and testing, but steady growth is forecast.
Another area of potential interest is for lightweight
mobility aids and robotics for the aging population.
While this may remain a cost sensitive area, there are
many benefits from magnesium use.

Future for magnesium

From the preceding review, it might be concluded that
whether magnesium ever becomes a major structural
commodity material ranking with steel or aluminium
depends almost entirely on its immediate development in
automotive applications. If the current momentum for
the expansion of die casting use is maintained and a
significant application for wrought components can be
developed, growth may continue, which would cascade
into wider applications. However, a substantial further
technical development is needed to improve both alloys
and processes.
From a UK perspective, recent roadmapping exercises, referred to above, have identified priorities for
development of technology and applications as follows:

Commercial transport
Priorities for castings were:
(i) modelling of casting processes to generate a
better understanding of specific characteristics of
magnesium (particularly for HPDC), to optimise
die design, running systems, etc.
(ii) low cost alloys with improved mechanical properties up to 180uC (particularly for HPDC):
(iii) definition of casting parameter and property
relationships for magnesium alloys using semisolid forming techniques.
Priorities for extrusions and forgings were:
(i) alloys with faster extrudability and a satisfactory
combination of strength, ductility and crash
behaviour
(ii) application of state of art forming processes used
on other materials to magnesium
(iii) development of rheoforming technologies for
magnesium alloys to make high integrity components for both automotive and aerospace
applications.
Priorities for sheet and rolled products were:
(i) alloy development to increase formability
(ii) application of roll casting technology to
magnesium
(iii) techniques to join magnesium alloys to other
magnesium alloy and dissimilar materials
(iv) address potential corrosion and galvanic corrosion issues.

Magnesium: commodity or exotic

Aerospace and high performance applications

Priorities in these sectors were:
(i) minimisation or elimination of galvanic corrosion potentials in magnesium component assemblies for airframes
(ii) performance databases for magnesium components in aircraft service conditions using state of
the art alloys and protection technology
(iii) development of rheoforming technologies for
magnesium alloys to make high integrity components for both automotive and aerospace
applications.

Medical and personal mobility uses

Objectives in this sector should be to exploit the
biocompatibility of magnesium to develop medical
devices (e.g. soluble stents, implants, etc.) and its
lightweight capability for mobility aids for an aging
population.

Conclusions
Above all, there is a need for wider dissemination of
information on all aspects of magnesium technology and
the raising of greater awareness, among not only the
current knowledgeable and committed core but also the
many other users who could benefit from its use.
Establishment of formal knowledge networks for both
industrial and academic information would foster the
dissemination required.
In the UK, there is now a strong interest in scientific
research for magnesium alloys within many UK
academic institutions, Manchester University, for example. Internationally, the same general priorities may be
recognised. Indeed, road mapping exercises and concerted funded programmes in Germany, Japan and the
USA predate any recent UK initiatives.1315,39
However, within the timescales necessary, the continuing effort is beyond the resources of the present
commercial developers and potential users and requires
a continuing concerted effort and support on both a
national and international basis.
If this support is not forthcoming, magnesium is likely
to remain an interesting and exotic material with a wide
range of small volume uses as it has been for much of the
time since its discovery.

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