Producing and Processing of Thin Al/Mg/Al Compounds

Research activities considering lightweight design are dedicated to substituting classic mild steels by light metal alloys. Magnesium is especially promising due to its beneficial strength–density ratio, but its industrial use is still limited due to, e.g., unfavorable corrosion properties. Thus, a methodology for applying thin aluminum layers to magnesium base material by hot roll cladding has been developed. This paper characterizes the compound via peel tests, lap shear tests, Nakajima tests and deep drawing tests, thus identifying beneficial process parameters. It proves high interlaminar adhesion strength and significantly better formability then the bare magnesium core material.