Magnesium Industry Growth in the 1990 Period

Electrolytic magnesium production has been the mainstay of the world’s magnesium industry since magnesium was first discovered by Davy in 1808. Many of the early workers developed small advances until the electrolysis of anhydrous magnesium chloride became the standard method of production. From the very first days, the importance of anhydrous magnesium chloride has been recognized. It remains the major problem area of economic and efficient electrolytic magnesium production.There has been a dramatically increased usage of magnesium in the past ten years by the automotive industry. This usage is projected to continue a large growth as automakers continue to strive for better fuel economy with reduced emission. The use in die casting alone has been projected to increase at 10–15% per year for the next 10 years.Cost of magnesium and its alloys is constantly compared to aluminum and its alloys by the automakers on all continents. Magnesium usually loses this battle, in spite of the different densities. Aluminum is 50% heavier than magnesium, hence for the same casting shape a pound of magnesium would make three castings while a pound of aluminum would make only two. Automakers feel that to be fully competitive, magnesium should be priced at 1.5 times the price of aluminum. This only takes into account the densities and not the other advantages offered by magnesium such as damping capacity and strength and rigidity.In recent years, the interest in magnesium has grown dramtically and there is a great deal of basic research and pilot plant work going on to identify better and more economic ways to produce electrolytic magnesium metal. There is more technical brainpower being applied to magnesium than ever before at anytime in history. The work has no boundries or restrictions and can be found on all the major continents (except maybe Antartica).