As automotive industry moves towards high efficiency, energy saving and sustainable development, lightweighting has become one of core technology trends. Magnesium alloys are gradually becoming an important choice to replace traditional materials due to their excellent lightweight properties (density is only 2/3 of aluminum and 1/4 of steel) and excellent comprehensive performance. In particular, die-cast magnesium alloys AM60B, AM50A and AZ91D are increasingly widely used in automotive structural parts due to their high specific strength, good casting performance, damping and shock absorption capabilities.
Starting from material properties, this article will deeply explore specific applications of these three magnesium alloys in key components such as seat frames, engine cylinders, steering systems, etc., analyze how they can inject innovative power into design and manufacturing of future automobiles through lightweighting, safety improvement and performance optimization.

 

 

1. Seat frame
⚫Lightweight: AM60B has a density of about 1.8g/cm³, which is much lower than that of steel. It can be used in seat frames to significantly reduce weight of seats, thereby reducing weight of the entire vehicle and improving fuel economy. For example, if a car uses a magnesium alloy seat frame instead of a traditional steel frame, it can reduce weight by about 30% - 50%.
⚫Safety: Material has good toughness and impact resistance. When a vehicle collides, it can absorb energy through its own deformation, reduce damage to passengers, and improve safety of seat.
⚫Comfort: Its good shock absorption performance can effectively reduce vibration transmitted to seat during vehicle driving, providing passengers with a more comfortable riding experience.

 

2. Dashboard bracket
⚫Design flexibility: AM60B has excellent casting performance and can be made into brackets of complex shapes to meet installation requirements of various components of dashboard and adapt to design requirements of different models.
⚫Stability: Strength and rigidity of material can ensure that dashboard remains stable during driving process of vehicle, and will not shake or deform due to vibration or other external forces, ensuring normal display and function of dashboard.

 

3. Door inner panel structural parts
⚫Weight reduction: It helps to reduce weight of door, making door switch lighter, while also reducing weight of the entire vehicle, which has a positive impact on vehicle's handling performance and fuel economy.
⚫Corrosion resistance: AM60B has a certain degree of corrosion resistance, and can resist erosion of door inner panel by external environmental factors (such as rain, moisture, etc.) during long-term use, extending service life of door.
4. Steering column bracket
⚫Reliability: Good mechanical properties enable steering column bracket to withstand various forces and torques generated during steering, ensuring reliability and stability of steering system and ensuring vehicle's handling performance.
⚫Safety: When vehicle collides, steering column bracket made of AM60B material can collapse through reasonable design, absorb energy, and reduce damage to driver.

 

1. Seat frame: AM50A magnesium alloy has characteristics of low density. It can be used in seat frames to effectively reduce weight of seats, thereby reducing weight of the entire vehicle and improving fuel economy. At the same time, its good toughness and strength can ensure that seat will not be deformed or damaged when bearing weight of passengers and various forces during vehicle driving, providing reliable support and safety.

 

2. Steering wheel frame: High strength and good fatigue resistance of this material enable steering wheel frame to withstand frequent steering forces and vibrations during driving, ensuring operational stability and reliability of steering wheel. In addition, lightweight characteristics of magnesium alloy help to reduce driver's operating burden and improve driving comfort.

 

3. Instrument panel bracket: Excellent casting properties of AM50A magnesium alloy enable it to be made into complex-shaped instrument panel brackets to meet installation requirements of instrument panels of different models. Its high stiffness can ensure that instrument panel remains stable during vehicle driving, avoid abnormal noise or damage due to vibration, and provide a stable installation foundation for electronic equipment in car.

 

4. Door inner panel: AM50A magnesium alloy is used to make door inner panels, which can effectively reduce weight of door while ensuring structural strength and safety of door, making door opening and closing easier, more convenient. In addition, corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy also helps to extend service life of door, reduce structural damage and appearance deterioration caused by corrosion.

 

5. Ceiling bracket: High specific strength of AM50A magnesium alloy enables it to bear weight of ceiling while being light in weight, which helps to lower center of gravity of vehicle and improve driving stability. At the same time, its good shock absorption performance can reduce vibration and noise of ceiling during vehicle driving and improve comfort in car.

1. Engine cylinder block
⚫Lightweight: AZ91D magnesium alloy has a low density. It can effectively reduce weight of engine when used in engine cylinder block, thereby reducing weight of the entire vehicle, improving fuel economy and vehicle handling performance. For example, compared with traditional cast iron cylinder block, magnesium alloy cylinder block can reduce weight by 30% - 50%.
⚫Good heat dissipation: Magnesium alloy has good thermal conductivity, which helps engine to dissipate heat better during operation, maintain normal operating temperature of engine, improve efficiency and reliability of engine.
⚫Shock reduction and noise reduction: Damping performance of this material is good, which can absorb vibration and noise generated by engine during operation, reduce noise level in car, and improve riding comfort.

 

2. Transmission housing
⚫High strength: AZ91D has high strength and hardness, can withstand various forces and torques inside transmission, ensure normal operation and reliability of transmission, and reduce transmission failures caused by housing deformation.
⚫Good casting performance: It is easy to cast a housing with a complex shape to meet installation requirements of internal structure of transmission. At the same time, dimensional accuracy and surface quality of housing can be improved through precision casting technology, reducing processing costs.
⚫Lightweight: Reducing weight of transmission helps to optimize weight distribution of vehicle, improve vehicle's handling and acceleration performance.

 

3. Wheel hub
⚫Lightweight: Reduce weight of wheel, reduce unsprung mass of vehicle, improve response of vehicle's suspension system, improve vehicle's driving stability and handling performance, also help reduce braking energy consumption and improve braking efficiency.
⚫High strength and corrosion resistance: It can withstand various forces during vehicle's driving process, including impact force of road surface, braking force during braking, etc. At the same time, its good corrosion resistance can resist erosion of wheel hub by external environmental factors (such as rain, salt water, etc.), and extend service life of wheel hub.
⚫Aesthetics: Various complex shapes and exquisite appearances can be manufactured through casting process to meet requirements of automobile manufacturers for vehicle appearance design and enhance the overall aesthetics of vehicle.

 

4. Braking system components
⚫Lightweight: For example, components such as brake calipers use AZ91D magnesium alloy, which can reduce weight of braking system, help improve response speed and braking efficiency of braking system, also reduce unsprung mass of vehicle and improve driving performance of vehicle.
⚫Good impact resistance: It can withstand impact force and pressure generated during braking, ensuring reliability and safety of braking system.
⚫Dimensional stability: During braking, AZ91D magnesium alloy can maintain good dimensional stability, ensure matching accuracy between components such as brake calipers and brake discs, and improve consistency of braking performance.
5. Body structure
⚫High strength and lightweight: It can be used for some key structural parts of body, such as A-pillars, B-pillars, etc., to effectively reduce weight of body while ensuring strength and safety of body structure, improve collision safety and fuel economy of vehicle.
⚫Good energy absorption: When a vehicle collides, AZ91D magnesium alloy structural parts can absorb energy through their own deformation, reduce damage to passengers in car, and improve passive safety performance of vehicle.

 

From seat frames to engine core components, from interior brackets to body safety structures, three die-cast magnesium alloys of AM60B, AM50A, and AZ91D have built a lightweight solution covering multiple systems of car with their "light and strong" and "rigid and tough" material properties. They not only achieve 30%-50% weight reduction of components through density advantages, directly improving fuel economy and endurance, but also reshape technical path of automotive safety design and structural optimization with excellent impact resistance, energy absorption characteristics and casting flexibility. At the moment when new energy vehicles are growing explosively, demand for weight reduction and efficiency improvement, battery layout space optimization, collision safety performance is becoming more and more urgent, and application value of die-cast magnesium alloys will be further magnified.
It is worth noting that although there is still room for optimization in the fields of corrosion resistance and high temperature performance, collaborative innovation of magnesium alloys with surface treatment technology and composite strengthening process is constantly breaking through application bottleneck. With advancement of "dual carbon" goal and acceleration of green transformation of global automotive industry, die-cast magnesium alloys represented by AM60B, AM50A, and AZ91D will surely play a more important role in wave of lightweight vehicles, become a key bridge connecting materials science and automotive engineering, promote industry to a "lighter, safer, and more sustainable" future.