Property Variation Within the Thin-Walled Magnesium Alloy Components

Utilization of magnesium alloys within the field of vehicle design offers substantial opportunity for mass reduction. This has resulted in a wide range of automotive applications. More recently, the scope of application has been extended to include components that are considered crash critical. However, the magnesium die casting process is widely reported as producing parts that exhibit large local variation in part properties. Hence, this introduces the technical challenge of how to design effectively based upon these constraints. In order to better understand this phenomenon, two large size thin walled production components were examined. Tensile test coupons were extracted from multiple locations. Micro and macro level investigations were also conducted in an effort to identify the root cause of property variation. This paper discusses the influences of porosity on mechanical property variation, specifically tensile strain to failure. Further discussion is also presented, detailing a proposed empirical model, for the prediction of local strain to failure.Copyright © 2006 by Ford Motor Company