Magnesium alloy products have a wide range of applications. The performance, handling and economy of an automobile are closely related to the weight of the automobile. In addition, with the increasingly stringent fuel efficiency regulations, automobile lightweight has become the goal pursued by almost every automobile enterprise. High-strength steel, aluminum and even carbon fiber are already widely used. Now people are turning to magnesium, which was previously thought to be too expensive.

Magnesium is a quarter as dense as steel and two-thirds as dense as aluminum, but it costs 75% more than steel and one-third more than aluminum. Magnesium is limited by its high cost, and its production process is not very environmentally friendly.

Minimizing the environmental impact while extracting magnesium is the key to the mass application of magnesium. To that end, APRA-E has awarded $2 million to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to set up a research project to try to extract magnesium from seawater. PNNL estimates that the new extraction method is 50 percent more efficient than existing methods, in the form of fewer greenhouse gas emissions and lower energy consumption.

With the new extraction method in hand, the second step is to decide exactly where the magnesium should be used in the body.

The answer is very wide. By 2020, automakers are expected to use 350 pounds of magnesium in every new car, from trunk LIDS to seat frames.Ford is also investigating the use of magnesium to enhance the ductility of components so that vehicle structures can withstand greater shear stress. At present, magnesium is not widely used in structural parts, because it is more prone to fracture. But Ford says it can change that with proper chemical processing. The company also says the use of magnesium in larger vehicles can reduce vehicle weight by about 20 percent. The high cost of magnesium is not an obstacle, according to Ford, because the material is used in high-end cars and the cost of magnesium is matched by the weight loss that makes the car more manageable and economical.