Abstract
As the standards of aircraft performance are raised, possible saving of weight is becoming of ever greater importance, so that more and more interest is being taken by aircraft constructors in metals lighter than aluminium. On January 14, Dr. C. H. Desch, superintendent of the Metallurgical Department of the National Physical Laboratory, discussed, before the Royal Aeronautical Society, recent work on magnesium and other light alloys, much of which has been carried out at the National Physical Laboratory. Magnesium is too weak a metal to be used in the unalloyed state, and the metals which may be added to it to produce strong alloys are limited in number. In fact, taking all the factors into account, only aluminium and cadmium are suitable for alloying in comparatively large quantities, although calcium, cerium, nickel, cobalt and manganese have proved useful in small quantities. To those who have only known magnesium in the form of ribbon or powder for use in flashlights, it is rather surprising to find that magnesium alloys are remarkably easy to cast. This comes about, Dr. Desch said, from the fact that molten magnesium has very little power of dissolving gases, so that magnesium alloys do not suffer from porosity caused by the liberation of gases at the moment of freezing. It is necessary to use a suitable flux and a protective atmosphere during pouring. These conditions are now well understood, and no difficulties are experienced in the foundry. In annealing processes similar protection is necessary, and the special technique adopted has resulted in making a magnesium alloy foundry a remarkably clean and inoffensive place. Exhaustive search at the National Physical Laboratory for magnesium [ alloys capable of age-hardening has suggested that ] those containing silver are the most promising. The fact that silver is relatively costly is of little importance, since in the articles of the type produced the cost of manufacture is much greater than that of the material used.
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Magnesium Alloys for Aircraft. Nature 139, 144 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139144b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139144b0