MAGNESIUM CASTINGS FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS

The growth rate of magnesium casting production in North America has a veraged 16.6 percent per year over the last ten years.(1-3) The fastes t growing application for magnesium is the high-pressure die casting f or automotive components, which represents approximately 70-80% of the magnesium casting shipments in recent years. This paper presents the latest developments in magnesium alloys, product design, easting techn ology, surface finishing, and magnesium-matrix composites. Current and future automotive applications of magnesium castings are also discuss ed.