Magnesium Alloy Products
Why Choose Us
Rich Experience
Taiyuan Simis Investment Casting Co., Ltd was established in 2014. After 15 years of development, it has developed from a single precision casting factory to a comprehensive mechanical product supplier that can provide precision casting, sand casting, die casting and precision machining parts.
Professional Technical Team
Our company has 3 professor-level engineers, 5 senior engineers, 12 junior engineers, 20 inspectors and about 350 workers. There are one precision casting factory, one sand casting factory, one die casting factory and two machining factories.
Reliable Product Quality
After the unremitting efforts of our all employees, our company has passed ISO, TS16949, TUV and other quality certifications. Always adhere to adopting our own proprietary technology in core technology...
Wide Market
We understand the design and quality requirements of foreign customers for mechanical products. About 85% of our products are exported to North America, Europe and around the world.
Magnesium alloy castings can be produced by nearly all of the conventional casting methods, namely, sand, permanent, and semi permanent mold and shell, investment, and die-casting. The choice of a casting method for a particular part depends upon factors such as the configuration of the proposed design, the application, the properties required, the total number of castings required, and the properties of the alloy.
Magnesium alloy forging wheels are wheels manufactured from alloys which contain mostly magnesium. Magnesium wheels are produced either by casting (metalworking) (where molten metal is introduced into a mold, solidifying within the mold), or by forging (where a prefabricated bar is deformed mechanically).
Advantages of Magnesium Alloy Castings
Lightweight
With a density of 1.7g/cm3, magnesium is the lightest structural metal available. Its alloys are therefore ideal for projects where weight is a key concern, giving a weight advantage over aluminium of 33%, and as much as 50% over titanium. In the automotive industry specifically, the move towards electric and energy efficient vehicles will only accelerate demands for component parts to be made ever-lighter.
Strong
Magnesium naturally provides good levels of stiffness due to its hexagonal, close-packed, crystal structure. Cast magnesium alloy castings have tensile strengths up to 280 MPa and yield up to 160 MPa, while wrought magnesium alloy castings are produced with tensile strengths up to 360 MPa and yield strengths up to 300 MPa.
Plentiful
Magnesium is the eighth-most abundant element on the planet, making it a cost effective and readily available choice. magnesium alloy castings are the third-most popular non-ferrous casting material.
Resistant to unwanted mechanical vibrations
Magnesium has the highest known damping capacity of any structural metal, capable of withstanding 10x more than aluminium, titanium, or steel. It is also flexible, making it easy to machine and cast and meaning it can be injection moulded.
Widely recyclable
Posing no toxicity hazards, magnesium alloy castings are helpful for enhancing any project’s post-life green credentials. It’s also highly biocompatible – minimal levels of degradation or decomposition are found, resulting from interaction with bodily fluids when used in cardiovascular or orthopaedic devices.
Application of Magnesium Alloy Castings
Magnesium alloy castings have been used in aerospace applications since the 20th century. For the reason that magnesium alloy can greatly improve the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft and can significantly reduce its structural weight, many parts are made of it. Generally, magnesium alloys for aerospace applications are mainly plates and extruded profiles, and to a lesser extent, castings. At present, magnesium alloy in aviation applications include a variety of civil and military aircraft parts, propellers, gearboxes, bracket structures and rockets, missiles and satellites, some of the parts and components. With the development of magnesium alloy production technology, the performance will continue to improve, and the scope of application will continue to expand.
Automotive
Magnesium alloy casting has been widely used in developed countries for automotive instrument panels, seat brackets, gearbox shells, directional control system components, bonnet covers, doors, engine blocks, frames and other parts. The use of magnesium alloy manufacturing automotive parts, can significantly reduce the weight of the car, reduce fuel consumption, reduce exhaust emissions, improve the integration of parts and improve the flexibility of automotive design. Usually every 10% reduction in vehicle weight, fuel efficiency can be improved by 5.5%, and exhaust emissions are reduced accordingly. To make the car lightweight, there are two ways: one is to optimise the structural design; the second is to choose lightweight materials. Aluminium alloy, plastic (resin-based composites), magnesium alloy is currently considered more ideal three types of materials. Magnesium alloy casting in all die casting alloy is the lightest, is extremely competitive automotive lightweight materials, a large number of magnesium alloy parts are produced to replace plastic, aluminium alloy, and even steel parts.
Due to the development of digital technology in the electronic information industry, the market is demanding more and more highly integrated, thin and light, miniaturised and environmentally friendly electronic and communication products. Engineering pigments had been used as the main material, but its strength can not be compared with metal after all. Magnesium alloy has excellent thin-wall casting performance, the wall thickness of its die casting can reach 0.6~1.0mm, and maintain a certain degree of strength, stiffness and anti-collision ability, which is very conducive to the product of ultra-thin, ultra-lightweight and miniaturisation requirements, which is unparalleled by engineering pigments.
Medical
In the medical field, magnesium was first entered as an orthopaedic biomaterial, due to its many features and properties that make magnesium implants and similar applications a very attractive option. In the early days, stainless steel, titanium alloys and cobalt-chromium alloys were used for medical implantation of metallic materials with the advantage of good corrosion resistance to maintain overall structural stability in the body for a long period of time. However, the implantation of these metallic materials can be painful for many patients after a period of time. Because these materials are unable to integrate with the body, harmful metal ions are leached out, triggering allergies in the human body, and they need to be removed through a second surgery after the disease is cured.
The use of magnesium alloy in military equipment can improve the strength of structural parts, reduce the weight of equipment and improve the hit rate of weapons. At the same time, magnesium alloy can meet the aerospace and other high-tech fields on the material noise absorption, shock absorption, radiation protection requirements, significantly improve the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft and reduce the weight of the structure. Therefore, in the manufacture of aircraft and land vehicles cabinet frame, wall plate, bracket, wheel hub, and engine block, cylinder head box and piston parts, often use magnesium alloy, at the same time, magnesium alloy is also used in the manufacture of some military equipment, such as bunker bracket, mortar base and missiles and so on. With the deepening of magnesium alloy research and the improvement of material properties, magnesium alloys will be used more and more in weaponry.
Process of Magnesium Alloy Castings
Die Preparation
Before every casting cycle, the die has to be thoroughly cleaned and lubricated. Firstly, clean the die halves with a sprayer mechanism to remove any residue from the previous cycle. Then, spray lubricant onto the die to prepare it for the next cycle.
Injection
Molten magnesium is stored in a furnace located inside the hot chamber equipment. The injection mechanism remains submerged into the furnace. There, a plunger forces the melted magnesium alloy inside the mold cavity through a gooseneck.
Solidification
Once the mold cavity has been filled, leave it alone for a specified period. Then, the casting will cool down and solidify.
Ejection
After the casting becomes solid, separate the die halves. Then, an ejection mechanism within the moving die half will eject the casting.
Trimming/Machining
Then remove the excess material from the casting using a trim die. It can be machined as well to introduce other features that were hard to implement during casting.
Matters Needing Attention in Die Casting Production of Magnesium Alloy Castings
Die Life
A significant improvement in die life compared to die casting of aluminium can be expected. This is effected with magnesium because of the heat transfer characteristics and the reduced affinity with iron, resulting in negligible soldering and reduced erosion.
Productivity
Because of the lower heat content of magnesium compared with aluminium, the metal solidifies at a faster rate, generating shorter cycle times, typically by 15-25%. Exceptional dimensional stability of the as-cast product is a particular characteristic of cast magnesium alloys. Frequently, annealing or stress relieving treatments are not required with magnesium, contrary to experiences with some cast aluminium components where some growth continues as natural ageing effects occur over extended times at moderate to elevated temperatures. Machinability is excellent, exhibiting the best characteristics of all the structural materials viz reduced machining time, lower power requirements, longer tool life, excellent surface finish frequently with a single cut and minimal tool build-up with lower overall machining costs.
Sensitivities
During the die casting cycle each part of the casting will develop a microstructure governed by the local solidification rate and pattern. Correct design of the casting and its feeding system are essential to ensure a uniform and directional solidification pattern. Where this is not achieved, it is to be expected that a certain fraction of microporosity will form due to volume contraction during solidification. This will inhibit the achievement of the excellent properties attainable in die cast magnesium. Ductility is a significant process-sensitive parameter with the control of inhomogeneities, defects and process of paramount importance in realising the potential for structural applications.
Punching
This is a machining process, which entails removal of scrap plug slug from a metal workpiece every moment the punch enters the punching die. Ideally, punching is often used for creating holes on the surface material of a workpiece, thus an economical way to machine magnesium alloy casting.
Milling
It refers to a cutting process, which uses a milling cutter to remove unwanted material from a workpiece. This process removes the unwanted materials by carrying out various separate, small cuts.
Drilling
This machining operation involves cutting a workpiece using a drill bit to create a circular cross-section hole. The size of the hole you create on the workpiece is dependent on the specific drill bit size you are using.
Sawing
It is a process, which uses a saw blade to cut a large metal workpiece into relatively smaller pieces. Ideally, this is one of the best methods for cutting different magnesium alloy castings into size.
Turning
This is a machining process, which involves removal of unwanted materials from a workpiece to create rotational parts.
Electroplating – It is a technique of depositing a metal coating on surface of magnesium alloy casting by applying a negative charge and immersing it in a chemical solution.
Chemical plating – This process creates a metal coating on surface of magnesium alloy casting by autocatalytic chemical reduction in a liquid bath.
Anodizing – It refers to an electrolytic passivation process used for increasing thickness of natural oxide on surface material.
Powder coating – It involves applying a free-flowing dry powder on surface material of magnesium alloy casting.
Plasma electrolytic oxidation
This surface coating method involves generating oxide coating on surface of magnesium alloy casting.
Vacuum deposition
It produces thin films on the surface material that guarantees high quality and high performance.
Thermal spray painting
This coating technique involves spraying melted compounds onto the surface of magnesium alloy casting material.
Tips and Tricks for Welding Magnesium Alloy Castings
Clean the Surface Properly
Certain kinds of welding don’t need to clean the surface of the material being joined, but when welding magnesium alloy castings, cleaning is a requirement. Because magnesium can oxidize readily, such materials are generally coated with a thin layer of a protective oil or chrome pickle. This coating prevents oxidation, but it’s also a contaminant that can jeopardize the weld when you work on the pieces of metal.
Beware of Fire
Magnesium rods are a common component in survival gear as a quick and easy fire starter. In powder form, magnesium can ignite readily and be very dangerous. Before welding, ensure the dust or filings from any cleaning are cleaned up and removed to avoid fire hazards.
Pick the Right Welding Process
Because of the risk of oxidation, a shielding gas is required for joining magnesium alloy castings, even if those alloys include metals that help cut down on corrosion. Several processes can be used, though many are exotic, very limited in use, or require automated machinery rather than hand processes.
Know When to Weld Magnesium
Different from many other forms of welding, magnesium welding is not often done for structural joining. Instead, most of the time, it is a process used to repair castings; this could be for building up worn metal in a workpiece, fixing inclusions or casting defects, or fixing thermal and vibration cracks in the piece.
Pick the Right Filler
Choosing the right filler rod for your magnesium alloy casting is critical. There’s no officially-designated international code for specifying magnesium alloy castings; however, the American Society for Testing Materials created a designation system that has seen widespread adoption.
Preheat Thick Parts, If Necessary
Magnesium is prone to cracking under thermal stress; this can happen during casting, thermal expansion, and welding around the heat-affected zone. One way to help minimize the risk of cracking, particularly when welding magnesium alloy castings, is to preheat the materials to around 200-300 degrees C.
Pick the Right Shielding Gas
As mentioned above, one of the biggest issues with using magnesium as a material is its susceptibility to oxidation. The specificity of the filler material means you can’t use a flux-containing material to produce your shielding gas in situ. Instead, external shielding gas must be used.
When in Doubt, Use Multiple Passes
Heat management is a huge issue for magnesium welding, which means that you can’t make one deep weld with a deep pool of filler material. Not only do you risk burning through the materials, but the heat gradient also risks cracking or jeopardizing the strength of the area surrounding the joint.
If Necessary, Heat Treat
While this may not be the welder’s job, magnesium workpieces may need heat treatment to regain their overall strength when a repair is finished. Heat treating is its own specific process and must be handled properly to ensure uniform strength throughout the finished piece. Without it, the repair could simply be the source of a new point of failure adjacent to it.
Use Laser Welding if Possible
Using TIG welding to repair or join magnesium workpieces may have been more commonplace in the past. Still, modern high-precision requirements and extreme tolerances necessary for a finished piece mean that the relative imprecision and risk of inconsistent welds mean that laser welding is generally the best option whenever possible.
Leave It to the Pros
Amateur welders typically begin by learning with thick pieces of mild steel and progress into more specific and complex kinds of welding. Aluminum welding is often considered a difficult kind of welding due to the softness, heat transferability, and risk of burn-through. In many ways, magnesium welding is even more difficult and is not an introductory kind of welding. When in doubt, leave such welding to the pros.
Use the Right Equipment
One of the most important elements of proper welding is making sure you have the right equipment on hand to complete the task. Tig welding with magnesium alloy castings requires specific equipment, which you may not have on hand. If you need the right equipment, we have several options for you.
Characteristics of Magnesium Alloy Forging Wheel
Security
Magnesium alloy forging wheels have high strength, good impact resistance, and strong fatigue resistance; light weight, reduce inertial energy, reduce torque required for driving, increase speed, and brake quickly; low temperature dependence, good heat dissipation performance, and enable high-speed driving The heat of the tire is quickly dissipated, reducing the rate of puncture and prolonging the service life of the tire.
Energy saving
The weight of magnesium alloy forging wheels is light, which reduces the load of the whole vehicle. The unsprung mass of the car is reduced by one kilogram, which is equivalent to a reduction of ten kilograms. The car wheel belongs to the unsprung mass of the car, and the forged magnesium alloy forging wheel is half the mass of the cast aluminum alloy wheel. 1. The weight of the vehicle is equivalent to a reduction of more than one hundred kilograms, thereby reducing energy consumption and saving fuel. For fuel vehicles, the fuel saving rate is 8%-15%; for electric vehicles, the cruising range can be increased by 6%-10%.
Driving
Magnesium alloy materials have good damping performance, magnesium alloy forging wheels have strong shock absorption performance, shock absorption and noise reduction, and improve the comfort and drivability of the car; the lightweight of magnesium alloy forging wheels makes the suspension system have better dynamic response capabilities, and thus more controllability Superior, driving feel is better than wheels of other materials.
Our Certifications
Our company has passed ISO9001, TS16949, TUV and other quality certifications.
Our Factory
Taiyuan Simis Investment Casting Co., Ltd was established in 2014. After 15 years of development, it has developed from a single precision casting factory to a comprehensive mechanical product supplier that can provide precision casting, sand casting, die casting and precision machining parts. Our company has 3 professor-level engineers, 5 senior engineers, 12 junior engineers, 20 inspectors and about 350 workers. There are one precision casting factory, one sand casting factory, one die casting factory and two machining factories. After the unremitting efforts of our all employees, our company has passed ISO, TS16949, TUV and other quality certifications.
FAQ
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