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Mainstreaming Magnesium
by Joe Scarry
One of the most fascinating presentations at the AFS Congress
was by Gerald Cole - Ford's magnesium maven. We all know the
arguments in favor of magnesium - especially that it is ideal
for lightweighting cars to meet CAFÉ regulations - but Cole
added some observations that I can't get out of my mind:
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| (1) Price - Everybody thinks
of magnesium as "relatively expensive." In fact, Cole stressed,
magnesium is now equal in price to aluminum on a UNIT VOLUME
basis. (On a per pound basis, it's $1.20 for magnesium vs. $.80
for aluminum.) Moreover, Cole says, China currently supplies
40% of the world's magnesium, and is in a position to supply
affordable magnesium indefinitely. (There are, admittedly, some
extra handling costs - see below.) |
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(2) Mainstreaming - Cole projects that there may be
90 kg (about 200 lbs.!) of magnesium per vehicle by 2020,
driven by the demand for more fuel-efficient, less polluting
vehicles. That means mag will find its way into:
ˇ dashboards
ˇ door interiors
ˇ lift gates
ˇ brackets
ˇ intake manifolds
ˇ road wheels
ˇ seat architecture
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(3) Need for a Champion - But mag isn't going anywhere
without someone to champion it. Cole stressed that the biggest
problem is that the Tier One suppliers don't know enough about
how to successfully use magnesium, because there is no central
player with an incentive to do the R&D. (Contrast this with
the support aluminum gets from Alcoa et. al.) Big questions
include:
ˇ service life?
ˇ applicability of various casting processes?
ˇ safe machining processes?
ˇ standards?
ˇ recyclability?
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| (4) Admitted Drawbacks - Magnesium
has two "minor" drawbacks that need to be addressed: First,
it corrodes in the presence of steel, so that special fastening
methods have to be used. Second, there is significant fire hazard
from magnesium dust. |
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(5) Magnesium Powertrain Project - There are projects
ongoing in conjunction with USCAR (Council for Auto Research)
and USDoE (Department of Energy) to advance knowledge of magnesium
in cars, especially in the form of an ultra-light sand-cast
engine block.
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| The presentation described above was
part of the panel, "New Initiatives in Magnesium Casting,"
presented at the 105th AFS Congress in Dallas, April 28 - May
1, 2001. Gerald Cole can be reached at gcole@ford.com.
Moreover, anyone interested in getting involved with the AFS
magnesium committee can contact Steve Robison at str@afsinc.org.
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