The Impact of Metal Cleanliness on Mechanical Properties of Die Cast Magnesium Alloy AM50

Summary

The effect of inclusions on mechanical properties is pronounced and well-known in steels. Properties such as ductility, fatigue, toughness and machinability are affected (10–12). Also within the aluminium industry inclusions are of great concern (10). Molten magnesium alloys oxidise more readily than any other metal cast or formed into components used for construction purposes. One might expect this to trig primary producers, end-users as well as researchers interest in quantifying the impact of inclusions on important mechanical properties. However, to our knowledge only a few papers have been published addressing this topic featuring die cast magnesium alloys (13–15). The essence of these papers is that in order to detect any influence of inclusions the content must be really high (at least 0.2%). This might have lead to the opinion that metal cleanliness represents no obstacle to go ahead with in-house/in-cell recycling.