6 years ago, Jiazhen Liu made the remarkable statement that
"AZ31B magnesium is known as the most promising
green engineering material in 21 century".
Inspired by this question, I would like to discuss which material will be that of the 21st century (not only with regard to greeen engineering).
I'm not convinced by his prediction. AZ31 has too little strength in the area of casting applications, which is why AZ91 is preferred here. As a wrought alloy, it forms a very strong basal texture, which restricts further processing (e.g. by deep drawing). Other magnesium alloys contain alloying elements (RE, Ca) which weaken this texture, which is why I certify them (e.g. ZAX 210, ZXK) to have greater potential. In addition, other metals are used in a much larger volume. I assume that press-hardenable steels and high-strength aluminium alloys will play a far greater role in the future than they do now.
What material/alloy do you think will be the dominant material of the 21st century?
Everyday new research are coming out with the claims of developing better/best material. But, no material can replace the existing ones till they qualify certain parameters, and most important of them is the mass production ability, ease of doing secondary treatments (like welding etc) and cost.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Physical Sciences
- Materials Science
- Materials