The Quantitative Evaluation for Impurities of Magnesium Diecasting Alloys

Abstract

Magnesium and its alloys are being applied to various kinds of industrial fields, especially their use on automotive parts and electronic part. These parts are manufactured mainly through diecasting process and magnesium ingots are used as raw materials. In the case that ingot quality is not secured, massive casting defects can occur and some manufactures can be damaged by the defects. This study is to evaluate ingots` cleanliness of magnesium alloys. It includes composition analysis by spectrometer, measurement of inclusion contents by SEM, brightness test on fractured surface and etc. Especially, the brightness test is a very easy and quick evaluation method. The brightness becomes low when the amount of oxides or inclusions on the surface increases. The brightness test data have been compared with those obtained from other methods for measuring the mount of impurities, which showed good relationship between the brightness and the others. Thus, the brightness test could be a promising method to measure the cleanliness of magnesium alloys.