Why are magnesium alloy wheels not commonly seen on the market?
For a car, the wheel hub can be said to be an essential accessory in a car. As is well known, the wheels used by everyone are all made of aluminum alloy wheels. Some people may be curious, why not use magnesium alloy wheels? Isn't magnesium alloy material much lighter than aluminum alloy material? Why don't you often see such wheels on the market? Let's follow Dashuo Magnesium Alloy Materials Company to take a look.
Why are magnesium alloy wheels not commonly seen on the market?
The reason is corrosion resistance. Strength, fatigue performance, and cost are not the main factors. Aluminum alloy wheels are already light enough, do you want them to be lighter? Carbon fiber wheels! In the foreseeable time, the application of magnesium alloys in automobiles will not have much development except for Hydrogen fuel cells.
Magnesium alloy is a metal material that has received widespread attention in the field of automotive electronic products in recent years. Its weight is light (with a specific gravity of 1.74g/cm3, one-third lighter than aluminum), which is conducive to weight reduction in automobiles. Its mechanical properties are good, and it can achieve the goal of energy and fuel conservation. However, magnesium is afraid of acid, salt, and water. If surface treatment is not done, only 5% salt water can cause corrosion of magnesium products in just one hour, and even perforation can be achieved, even if surface treatment is done
Rationally, if there is surface damage, it will also reduce the service life of the product, and the corrosion resistance is relatively poor; On the other hand, in terms of price and cost, magnesium alloy is very expensive and has not been widely used in China. Currently, there are only a few supercars using magnesium alloy wheels.
Not only the wheels, but also the number of magnesium alloys used in other parts of cars is decreasing year by year. More than a decade ago, the United States planned to use an average of 140kg in cars
Each vehicle, but the usage of magnesium alloy components has been continuously decreasing over the years, currently only 1 ka per vehicle. Volkswagen uses more magnesium alloys, but also
Limited. Currently, the United States does not allow the use of magnesium alloys in civil aviation. The submitted flame retardant magnesium is intended for use in aircraft, but the propulsion process is not smooth, and the domestic market is also afraid to use it
Use. The main reason is that the development of magnesium alloys is slow, many expected goals have not been achieved, and cost is also an important factor. The price of magnesium is not much different from that of aluminum.
However, processing costs, requirements for processing conditions, surface treatment, and other costs make magnesium alloy parts far exceed aluminum alloys.