Magnesium Twin-Roll Casting Technology for Flat and Long Products - State of the Art and Future

Abstract

Due to their advantageous strength-weight ratio, good recyclability, excellent noise and vibration damping properties as well as excellent dent resistance, magnesium materials offer a variety of uses in modern lightweight structures. As a result, a comeback of magnesium alloys is to be seen in multiple industrial applications, especially in the automotive industry, as the potential for lightweight, cost-effective lightweight industrial construction associated with the lightest metallic engineering material helps to meet even stricter energy and environmental efficiency guidelines. Traditionally, casting processes have been the dominant magnesium manufacturing processes, but in the last decade, an increasing number of lightweight structural applications have been implemented with magnesium wrought alloys. In this paper, the current state of developments focusing the twin-roll casting (TRC) of semi-finished products of magnesium alloys will be presented. By reducing the number of process steps in combination with a unique microstructure, the near-net-shape TRC process offers new options to provide magnesium materials meeting current and future requirements for semi-finished products, constructions and moldings in terms of type, quantity and quality.