Automotive vehicles produced in North America currently use more Mg than vehicles produced elsewhere in the world, but the amounts per vehicle are very small in comparison to other materials such as steel, aluminum and plastics. The reasons, besides price, are primarily a less-developed state of technology for Mg in automotive transportation applications and lack of familiarity by the vehicle manufacturers with the material. The present paper reviews some of the North American research and development activities in Mg for automotive applications. One objective is to successfully cast Mg metal-matrix composites (MMCs) in an effort to replace low specific strength primary structural components in heavy vehicle applications. Therefore, the potential of using selectively reinforced Mg metal-matrix composites (MMCs) in stiffness-, strength-, and wear-driven applications is investigated. The development of magnesium for powertrain components is focused on three development tasks: 1) development of compositing technologies to produce low-cost, cast, Mg MMC materials; 2) advanced shape casting manufacturing processes; and 3) innovative designs for new powertrain components. Another research project is the development of Mg sheet for automotive applications. It includes the casting of Mg plate, thermomechanical process optimization and correlation of performance with microstructural and performance properties. Computational simulations of the microstructural evolution during forming were carried out to improve the formability. Besides these efforts a global cost study of of the likely long-range costs of primary Mg and use in automotive applications was conducted. A project between Canada, China and the USA was founded in 2005 to develop technologies in high-integrity body casting, extrusion, sheet forming, corrosion protection, joining and assembly for a lightweight, magnesium-intensive, front end structure with significant vehicle mass saving (60% or 40 kg compared to steel at cost parity).
Automotive Mg research and development in North America
Forschung und Entwicklung für Automobilteile aus Magnesium in Nordamerika
2005
20 Seiten, 13 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 30 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
Automotive Mg research and development in North America
Tema Archiv | 2008
|Automotive Mg Research and Development in North America
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2007
|Automotive 2030 - North America
TIBKAT | 2011
|Automotive high strength sheet steel trends in North America
Tema Archiv | 2003
|Hydro aluminum's approach to automotive extrusion in North America
Tema Archiv | 2002
|