Magnesium Alloy parts are routinely molded with nominal wall thickness down to 0.020" (0.5 mm) providing high-strength precise moldings. Combining the process versatility and tooling capabilities of injection molding with outstanding material flow (L/D 600:1 in Spiral Flow tests), Magnesium Alloy opens new intricate, space-efficient design possibilities in many markets.
Magnesium Alloy components are 34% lighter than aluminum and 76% lighter than steel. With a material density of 0.065 lb/in^3 (1.81 g/cc), Magnesium alloy AZ91D compares favorably with most injection molded thermoplastics and offers a significant increase in mechanical properties.
Stiffness, strength and durability are maximized as AZ91D components are 20 times stiffer than typical engineering thermoplastics (E=6.5 MSI / 45 GPa), have high strength-to-weight ratio (UTS=36 KSI / 243 MPa) and display superior impact response.
Magnesium Alloy housings and enclosures are electrically conductive (12% IACS) and provide effective EMI shielding without the use of fillers, plating or conductive paints. Greater than 85 dB of shielding is achieved at 0.039" (1.0 mm) wall thickness.
Thin wall Magnesium Alloy components optimize heat transfer with the excellent thermal conductivity of magnesium (k=42 Btu/ft-hr-F / 72 W/m-K) supporting the needs of miniaturization and efficient thermal management.
All Magnesium Alloy components–painted or unpainted–are fully recyclable. Moreover, stability of supply and price is secure as magnesium is one of the earth’s most abundant elements—1 cubic mile of sea water contains approx. 12 Billion lbs. of magnesium.
The process versatility of Magnesium Alloy and increasing global material supply enables OEM’s intricate detail, high-volume consistency and lower total installed system cost.