Karl Ulrich KAINER

Magnesium Innovation Centre, GKSS Research Centre Geesthacht, Germany

Title: Magnesium Alloys and their Processing for Use in Structural and Medical Applications

Magnesium and its alloys as the lightest available construction metal offer a wide range of opportunities for the usage in transportation and 3C industries. While magnesium cast components have found their application the interest is now spreading to wrought alloys due to the possibility to get even more homogeneous and improved properties compared to cast parts. Castings are still form the majority of applications of magnesium alloys, although efforts to develop adequate wrought alloys have increased. In the presentation, the alloy requirements for processing of cast and wrought alloys will be discussed. The various processing routes and alloy compositions result in specific microstructures and properties which determine the potential use of these alloys.

Today, the spectrum of available alloys covers standard alloys as well as alloys for use at elevated temperatures. The trend will be to further diversify the alloy compositions and to improve the alloy properties. Areas of concern still remain the wrought processing and the high temperature (creep) and corrosion properties of magnesium alloys. The presentation will provide an overview of the historical and current use of magnesium as well as of the trend in development of alloys and processes including an outlook on future applications. A completely different but most promising application is the use of magnesium based materials in medical applications due their low elastic modulus, appropriate strength in comparison to bone, and their excellent diodegradability and bioresorbability. Adjusted corrosion behaviour can result in a controlled absorption of the material in a human body and therefore a second time surgery may no longer be necessary. Examples of recent developments in these sectors will be given.