'ShAPE' Process Provides Super-Light & Strong Automotive Parts
Magnesium is the lightest of all structural metals and has a lot of potential in the quest to make lighter cars that go farther on a tank of fuel or battery charge. The metal is 75 percent lighter than steel and is the fourth most common element on earth. But to provide the necessary strength to be incorporated into structural car parts, costly rare-elements have been required. Now, a new process from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has the potential to reduce cost by eliminating the need for rare-earth elements, while simultaneously improving the material's structural properties. It is a twist on extrusion, in which the metal is forced through a tool to create a certain shape. The research team designed and commissioned an industrial version of their idea and received a one-of-a-kind, custom-built Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE™) machine. Spinning a magnesium alloy as it is pressed through a die to create tubes rods and channels is more energy efficient and improves the alloy's mechanical properties.
Transcript
00:00:00 lighter materials make vehicles more fuel-efficient magnesium is one of the lightest of all structural metals and it's on its way to being used more in car parts thanks to a new process developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory this is how you make magnesium alloy tubing using the shear assisted processing and extrusion machine shape is a new way to put
00:00:25 billets or flakes of magnesium through a die by spinning the metal friction creates heat to soften magnesium so it can be pushed through the die easily and the rotation actually makes it better the faster the metal spins the smaller the grains become which makes the end product more pliable spinning also Orient's the grains to improve the energy absorption of magnesium so it's
00:00:51 equal to aluminum and can be used for more structural components the process is cheaper too with far less electricity needed it's shaping up to be an important advancement for the auto industry which hopes to use an average of 350 pounds of magnesium per vehicle by 2020 [Music] you