fwiw :Magnesium alloy: a new era begins
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2006-11-14 09:01
By Cao Hongyan
If each automobile use 70kg magnesium alloy, the annual discharge of carbon dioxide will be reduced by over 30%.
In the case of same volume, magnesium alloy is 36% lighter than aluminum alloy, 73% than zinc alloy and 77% than steel. If the weight of an automobile is reduced by 100kg, the oil consumption of 100km will be reduced by about 0.7L and the emission of carbon dioxide will also be reduced. Consequently, under the increasingly heated demand of modern automobiles to reduce weight and save energy, magnesium alloy is beyond question the best choice for the lightweighting of automobiles.
A fact is that the developed countries began to attach importance to magnesium alloy ten years ago. With the progress of global industrialization process and the large-scale exploitation of resources, there is severe lack of some traditional metal mineral resources representing by iron and aluminum. Industrial countries are launching large strategic research plans which aim to push the application of magnesium alloy in many fields like traffic, computer, communication, consumer electronics, and military industry in national defense, etc..
In China, the development of magnesium alloy industry is more significant. China is rich in magnesium resources and it occupies 22.5% of the world total reserves. Dolomite mineral of great reserves and salt lake in Tsinghai also have rich magnesium resource.
In 1999, the primary magnesium production in China reached 120 thousand tons. It was the first time for China to exceed America to be the largest magnesium production country in the world. Up till now, China has been on the first place in production and exportation of magnesium for six years. The annual production is over 70% of the world total annual production, which has vital effect on the price of primary magnesium in the world.
Ding Wenjiang, vice-president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, took the development of magnesium alloy industry as an important chance to raise the level of China's manufacturing industry. He said, "Among the metal mineral resources in China, magnesium is one of the few resources which have the advantage in resource, production and market. In the industrial chain related with magnesium, we are already in a favorable position."
On Dec. 11, 2004, in Tsinghai Charham Salt Lake, a successful site test run was carried out in stretching salt bridge on the industrial equipment of dehydrated magnesium chloride with an annual production of 1500 tons. After Norway and Australia, China became the third country who has built industrial equipment of bischofite dehydration.
This "bischofite dehydration" has been a great technological problem for the application of magnesium in China in the past 30 years. Now its settlement made a way for Tsinghai salt-lake areas with rich magnesium resource to be built into a production base of primary magnesium and magnesium alloy.
At present, China has initially formed a relatively integrated industrial chain of magnesium alloy with technology innovation. This chain covers a wide range and represents the hi-tech industrial structure of magnesium alloy, from raw material production, equipment manufacture, product development, and industrialization demonstration base.
Relevant experts remind that as a large country in magnesium resource, production and exportation, we still have a long way to go to become a strong country in magnesium industry.
"Magnesium industry is an uprising industry which concerns high technology. In the magnesium alloy industrial chain, there are many weak links; some technological bottleneck which hold back the fast development of magnesium industry haven't been solved." said relevant principals from the Department of Science and Technology, "These bottleneck, including the three technological problems which restrict the development of magnesium alloy (low strength, low plasticity and inefficiency in anti-erosion), haven't been solved; the strength and anti-creep property of present magnesium alloy is rather low which restrict the application of magnesium alloy in a wider range; the engineering and development related to magnesium alloy parts still stays at the stage of substitution."
"For more than ten years, the magnesium industry of China has been developing fast with an annual increase rate of 37%; this brought vigorous chances for the economic development in China. However, while developing fast, some problems also came: simple process, backward technical equipment, polluted environment, severe waste of resources and energy, and unstable product quality, etc.. These problems will certainly bring serious results to the prosperous development of magnesium industry." Zuo Tieyong, Academician of Chinese Institute of Engineer, spoke frankly.
In resent years, the production and exportation of primary magnesium in China has been developing rapidly; the application of the primary products of magnesium has been broken through. However, the development and application of magnesium alloy products with high value-added is relatively inadequate. Concerning this situation, Academician Zuo Tieyong appealed that "the development of magnesium industry in China should step toward the direction of scalization, specialization and grouplization; the industrial concentration should be raised and the industrial group centered around magnesium should be formed; companies should be developed as large, strong, professional and special; the magnesium resource potential in China should be fully exploited so as to push the all-round, coordinated and sustainable development of the magnesium industry in China."
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