Quote:
Originally Posted by 90503
All aluminum already has magnesium in it...The higher the percent of magnesium, the lighter and stronger aluminum becomes....Depending on the thickness at some point high mag content aluminum can't be bent...It will be significantly stronger and lighter, but more brittle....
Cheap, mushy aluminum won't stamp or bend with any quality, either...It's a balancing act...Aircraft alumunum is high quality, hi-grade aluminum...
...Anything can be done, just the process requires more engineering...
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Point taken.
I've been reading up (what I can in the past 45 minutes). Apparently, you can add rare earth metals into the alloy formula, and this changes the properties of (among other things) the ignition temperature of the material. Since Al-Mg alloys don't burn at the same temperatures as pure Mg to begin with...Alloys with the intent of high-temperature applications can be formed by using this technique.
The Corvette's Mg engine cradle is made out of a special alloy; AE44. And it caught some press in the engineering community for it's ability to perform in high-temperature situations. Was the first application of its kind, apparently.
Nothing's perfect, obviously. Imagine if the electric car had taken off in the early 1900s and we were driving developed versions of them today....and then someone came along and suggested we switch to this cheap, and high-energy liquid fuel: "Gas-O-Leen"....I imagine there'd have been an uproar over endangering the driving public by making them drive around with a flammable/combustable/explosive material sloshing around in tanks underneath the cars.
With all that said: I look forward to seeing how GM intends to carry out this goal of 15% weight reduction. No doubt they've done some research on the subject to back up the number (or at least come close) with results. I've never heard them be so specific without knowing they can do it, first.
If it happens to be Mg...Hey - as long as it won't rust when the paint's chipped after years of driving, count me in.
