GM tests magnesium sheet metal to make cars lighter

Magnesium auto parts formed by high pressure die casting are already common in cars and trucks, for steering wheels and other parts.

Using magnesium sheets to make auto parts could be a significant breakthrough for GM and eventually lead to much more magnesium in vehicles"  said Dick Schultz, managing director of Ducker Worldwide and an expert on metals used in manufacturing.

GM is starting slow, using magnesium from sheet metal to make inner panels of doors and trunk lids.

"Magnesium is 75 percent lighter than steel and 33 percent lighter than aluminum" said GM engineer Paul Krajewski.

He said "it also costs three to four times as much as aluminum, but wider use will encourage magnesium sheet metal producers to make more, which will bring down the costs".

"Magnesium will allow us to reduce the weight of certain sheet metal panels and thereby improve fuel efficiency and handling and overall performance," Carter said in a telephone interview.

Manufacturers can stamp out steel auto parts at room temperature.

"The ultimate goal is to be able to one day stamp magnesium panels just like today we stamp steel panels at room temperature. We're not there yet," said Carter, but he added that magnesium sheet makers are working with new alloys that will allow the sheets to be formed at lower temperature.

"But those parts using magnesium" Schultz said.

Schultz said "the average passenger vehicle on the U.S. market has a weight of about 3,800 pounds, including 10 pounds from magnesium,  steel makes up 2,100 pounds of the weight of that average vehicle, and aluminum makes up 343 pounds".

"We found that if we control the way we heat the sheet metal blank before it goes into the hot forming tool, it makes a world of difference in how the panel looks, how fast it can be formed and how to avoid making panels that have defects in them," said Carter.

"Aluminum has gotten much better through innovations. Magnesium is probably where aluminum was 25 years ago," said Schultz.

"Some of the existing infrastructure for making magnesium sheet dates back to World War Two when it was made for airplanes," said Krajewski. "We are now seeing an evolution of both the alloys and the material processing technology that can truly drive the costs down."

uk.reuters.com

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Fabrication of Niobium

Niobium is a chemical element with the symbol NB and atomic number 41. It is a soft, grey,ductile transition metal.

Niobium has a similar structure to Tantalum and is produced in a similar method.

It too has a very high melting point of around 2470°C.

It has excellent corrosive resistance and has good cold ductility.

It is however half as dense as Tantalum.

Applications include; sintering trays and boats, special chemical applications, superconductors, medical components, jet engine parts and is used in the lighting industry.

Molybdenum Market Update

The cash price of molybdenum moved up to $24,000 to $25,000 per metric ton on the London Metal Exchange (LME) over the past week, from $22,000 to $23,000, according to Metal-Pages. LME moly inventories fell 12 tonnes. That brings prices roughly back up to their September 1 level.

The slight uptick comes against the backdrop of better-than-expected news about Chinese exports. China is the world’s largest molybdenum producer. According to the country’s customs agency, overseas shipments rose 9.9 percent in September, far ahead of the 5.5 percent gain that economists were expecting.

That raised hopes that the economic slowdown gripping the country could be easing, which would be a plus for steel demand and molybdenum prices as molybdenum is a key element in steelmaking.

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Think you know Gold?

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and atomic number 79.

It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history.

The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, underground "veins" and in alluvial deposits. It is one of the coinage metals. Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile substance known.

Pure gold has a bright yellow color traditionally considered attractive.

Gold formed the basis for the gold standard used before the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971.

The ISO currency code of gold bullion is XAU.