Although magnesium alloys, as the lightest structural alloys, offer significant potential for automotive applications, their applications remain limited due to their poor formability at room temperature. Since the strategies used for improving formability usually result in a degradation of strength, there are no high strength magnesium alloys showing good formability. Here we report an alloy design concept that can simultaneously provide high strength and good formability. Such designed alloy when subjected to an appropriate processing technique shows a combination of strength and formability that surpasses those of the existing magnesium alloys reported so far. The alloy design concept used in the present study is based on the utilization of alloying elements that can induce precipitation, as well as maximize the segregation of other texture-controlling alloying elements. Such developed alloy is expected to broaden the application of Mg alloy sheets, which are now starting to gain acceptance by automotive industries.

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The concentrations of some important endocrine disrupting chemicals and pharmaceuticals after various stages of wastewater treatment were investigated. The endocrine disrupting chemicals included natural and synthetic estrogenic and androgenic steroids. The pharmaceuticals included a series of sulfonamide antibiotics and trimethoprim. The removal efficiency of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) was investigated and compared with a conventional activated sludge (CAS) system. Samples were analysed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Results showed that the MBR and CAS systems effectively removed steroidal estrogens and androgens, but only partially eliminated the target antibiotics from wastewater. The MBR was shown to be more effective than the CAS system which was possibly attributed to the high solid retention time and concentration of biosolids in the MBR. The results highlight the potential wider application of MBRs for the removal of trace chemical contaminants in wastewater and their potential for use as decentralised wastewater treatment systems.