New Magnesium Alloys for Automotive Applications
Dr. David Klaumünzer
Materials and Manufacturing Processes
Date & Time: 15:30 - 16:30, December 3rd (Mon), 2018.
Place: 5F Conference Room, Advanced Structural Materials Building, Sengen.
Abstract:
Volkswagen shares a long history of using magnesium for
vehicle components. Early applications date back to the Volkswagen
Beetle which even to today’s standards can be considered a magnesium
intensive vehicle. Today, applications are limited to a small number of
castings in the drive-train, interior or very rarely car-body. In order
to enhance the use of magnesium in future vehicles and unveil the full
potential of magnesium as a lightweight material, its application
spectrum needs to be extended to include sheet components. However, by
simple comparison to aluminium and steels it becomes apparent that the
property spectrum of magnesium sheets remains narrow and requires
substantial broadening by fundamental alloy development. For economic
reasons, we employ twin-roll casting (TRC) as the processing method of
choice and use a step-wise upscaling approach. Thus we can show that a
new alloy within the Mg-Zn-Ca-Zr system can be processed up to 1400 mm
in width at an industrial scale and results in a beneficial combination
of strength and formability. The improved formability stems from a
texture weakening effect. It can be shown that such a new alloy sheet
can be formed successfully into prototype components at reduced
temperatures, thus contributing to a more viable and economic production
of magnesium components.