What are the uses of magnesium alloys?

Main application areas:

1) Aerospace industry, military industry, transportation industry (including automobile industry, aircraft industry, motorcycle industry, bicycle industry, etc.), 3C industry, etc. The characteristics of magnesium alloy can meet the requirements of noise absorption, shock absorption and radiation protection for lightweight materials in high-tech fields such as aerospace, which can greatly improve the aerodynamic performance of aircraft and significantly reduce the structural weight. Beginning in the 1940s, magnesium alloys were first given priority in the aerospace sector. Each B-36 heavy bomber uses 4086kg magnesium alloy sheet; Lockheed F-80 fighter jet magnesium wing, reduced from 47,758 structural parts to 16,050; The hercules rocket used 600kg of wrought magnesium alloy; 675kg of wrought magnesium alloy was used in the giscaverlier satellite; The verger rocket case, which is about 1 meter in diameter, is made of magnesium alloy extruded pipe. China's fighters, bombers, helicopters, transport planes, civil aircraft, airborne radars, ground-to - air missiles, launch vehicles, satellites and spaceships have all chosen magnesium alloy components: a model of aircraft has at most 300-400 magnesium alloy components; The heaviest weight of one part is nearly 300kg; The maximum size of a member is more than 2m. In military industry, magnesium alloy sheet is needed to improve the strength of structural parts, reduce the weight of equipment and improve the hit rate of weapons.

2) In the field of national defense industry, due to the impact resistance of magnesium and magnesium alloy, if magnesium alloy can be developed with the same corrosion resistance as aluminum alloy, it will have broad application prospects in various military fields such as weapons. Such as magnesium powder for flares, magnesium alloy with high specific strength for armor-piercing projectiles, as well as magnesium alloy for tactical air missile cabin, flap skin, panel and radar, satellite and other parts of magnesium alloy well beam, camera frame and housing. The light weight of weapons is the development trend of modern weapons. The use of magnesium alloy to replace some parts of existing weapons is becoming the focus of research in many countries. Relevant units have respectively developed the wrought magnesium alloy charge gun case, gun tail, handle, front armrest, gun stock body, large ammunition plate, sight seat, small magazine seat and military casting alloy engine inlet and outlet water pipe and engine filter seat through forging or casting molding. Some of the military magnesium alloy parts with high requirements for corrosion and wear resistance were also treated by the method of Concorde coating. At present, these developed and produced military magnesium alloy parts have entered the stage of practical demonstration, verification and assessment, and are expected to be preliminarily applied soon.

3) The application of magnesium alloy in the automotive industry. The advantages of magnesium alloy automotive parts can be summarized as follows: low density, can reduce the weight of the vehicle, and indirectly reduce fuel consumption; The specific strength of magnesium is higher than that of aluminum alloy and steel, and the specific stiffness is close to that of aluminum alloy and steel, which can bear certain load. Magnesium has good castability and dimensional stability, easy to process, low rejection rate; Magnesium has a high damping coefficient, the vibration reduction is greater than aluminum alloy and cast iron, used for housing can reduce noise, used for seats, wheel ring can reduce vibration, improve the safety and comfort of the car. As early as the 1930s magnesium alloys were used in the pistons of a racing car and in the oil pump tanks of Opel cars. In the 1960s, some cars used up to 23 kg, mainly used as valve shell, air cleaning box, brake, clutch, pedal frame, etc.; In the early 1980s, strict control of iron, copper, nickel and other impurities, the corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy has been solved, and at the same time, the cost reduction has greatly promoted the application of magnesium alloy in automobiles. Since the 1990s, magnesium alloys have been used in auto parts in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea. The application of magnesium alloy die castings in automobiles has shown long-term growth. Over the past decade, it has grown at an annual rate of more than 15%. In Europe, where 300 different magnesium components are used to assemble cars, an average of 2.5kg of magnesium is used in each Car produced in Europe. Demand for magnesium per vehicle will increase to 70-120kg. Magnesium alloy die casting products are currently used in automotive instruments, seat frames, steering system components, hoods, gearboxes, intake manifolds, hubs, engines and safety components.

Chongqing Changan Group Co., LTD. : Completed the trial production of replacing aluminum alloy with magnesium alloy for the upper and lower shell of JL462Q engine transmission, and has formed the production capacity of 1500T automobile transmission die casting annually. At the end of 2003, 7 parts of the transmission, including upper and lower shell, box extension body and cylinder cover, have been loaded in batches and passed the small batch loading test. Now they are in the final batch loading test before the batch production. In addition, the company plans to replace more parts, such as steering wheels and inner seat frames, with magnesium alloys, gradually reaching 20Kg per vehicle. Faw Group: the valve chamber cover cover, gearbox cover, engine oil injection and other magnesium alloy die castings have been successfully trial-produced, among which the valve chamber cover cover has passed the loading test. Dongfeng Motor Company: Taking the industrial application of magnesium alloy gearbox cover as the key breakthrough object, it has completed 100,000 standardized bench tests and successfully passed the assessment; At the same time, the investigation of the application of the middle partition and the left and right foot step of the loaded vacuum booster shows that the application effect is good.

The application of magnesium alloy is very wide, and other application areas are summarized as follows:

Aerospace: Aircraft: fuselage, engines

Missiles, space exploration: rockets, launch pads, satellites and exploration, jet engines

Instruments: gyroscopes, hoods, radar parts and waveguides, electrical devices,

Ground control unit

Atomic energy industry: enclosure sealing devices, auxiliary equipment

Transportation: Automobile, truck: gearbox, crankcase, transmission case, oil pan, cylinder head, hub, steering wheel, brake pedal support, lock housing

Bicycle, motorcycle: chain cover, brake disc, front guide cover, engine parts, transmission box cover

Logistics equipment: claw chuck and transmission device, large agile appliances, trolley

Machine tools: chainsaw and drilling rig, craft equipment plate, level, etc

Textile machine: high speed warp, control lever

Printing: backplate, drum, printing plate

Office machines: typewriter parts, teleprinter covers, computers, laptops

Optical instruments: camera case, tape reel, video camera, TV, projector

Consumer goods: ladders, vacuum cleaner parts, chairs, large suitcase racks, glasses, hearing AIDS, car chairs, crutches

It can almost replace plastics, aluminum alloys, zinc alloys and other metals.