Magnesium, Magnesium Alloys, and Magnesium Composites

Book excerpt: A look at the current and future uses of magnesium-based products and their role in the world's environmental and technological revolution The lightest of all structural metals, having one-fourth the density of steel and two-thirds that of aluminum, magnesium has already been adopted as an alternative construction material in applications as far ranging as automotive and sports equipment, electronics, and space technology. In a world concerned with minimizing the environmental impact of products, the choice of light-weight, energy-saving, and high-performance materials, like magnesium, would seem a small, significant step towards improving life on this planet. Magnesium, Magnesium Alloys, and Magnesium Composites introduces the science and current applications of this important metal, shedding light on the magnesium-based composites developed over the last fifteen years. Chapters include in-depth discussion of: The characteristics of pure magnesium—including atomic properties and crystal structure as well as physical, electrical, and mechanical properties Magnesium alloys—and the effects of the alloying elements, such as aluminum, lithium, copper, nickel, and silicon The properties of magnesium-based composites—and the effects of different types (metallic, ceramic, interconnected, and intermetallic) of reinforcements of varying length (from micron scale to nanometric length) Corrosion aspects of magnesium-based materials Magnesium-based products in medicine, sports equipment, and the automotive, aerospace, and electronics industries Bringing together, for the first time, the science, properties, and technologies relating to the current and future uses of magnesium, this important reference also offers readers a glimpse of a not-too-distant world in which environmental safety and sound engineering are a reality.