Machinability of Magnesium and Its Alloys: A Review

Abstract

In the last decades, the interest for magnesium has increased notably. In particular, the need for weight reduction in the automotive industry has made magnesium a suitable material to replace traditional structural materials because of its low density. But, in addition, magnesium is also finding applications in different sectors as aeronautics, electronics, medical or sports. Thus, machining of magnesium is a topic of great interest for industry and researchers. In the present work, an introduction to the main topics on magnesium machining is presented. The text covers from general topics of magnesium to more specific ones related with the machining process. In this sense, an approximation to the properties of magnesium, magnesium alloys and metal matrix composites of magnesium, and some applications are presented to give a general overview of magnesium. After that, the machining of magnesium is covered addressing general issues and more specific particularities of magnesium machining, such as the ignition risk. To conclude, a brief review of some of the main experimental investigations on magnesium machining is presented, covering drilling, milling and turning processes. In these studies, the machining process is assessed using indicators such as surface finish, temperature or tool wear.

Experimental Study for Improving the Repair of Magnesium–Aluminium Hybrid Parts by Turning Processes

“…The results obtained in this work are coherent with those of other previous works about magnesium [55][56][57][58][59][60][61] and aluminum [47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. The magnesium works were of continuous and intermittent horizontal turning and of continuous facing.…”

“…On the other hand, this approach would allow, if necessary, for an increase in the degree of complexity of the geometry of the test pieces from solid knowledge about the joint behaviour of the individual materials depending on the results that were obtained. We have previous experience in the machining of both materials, both in continuous turning (horizontal and facing) [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] and in intermittent turning [56][57][58][59][60]. The geometry of the specimens raised in the present study is a natural evolution of the geometries and materials previously studied separately that have just been mentioned.…”

Repairing Hybrid Mg–Al–Mg Components Using Sustainable Cooling Systems

“…Chemical composition of the materials used for the manufacturing specimens.These materials were selected because the authors had previous experience in their machining, both independently[12][13][14][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]25,[28][29][30][31][32][77][78][79][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94] and together…”

Feasibility Study of Hole Repair and Maintenance Operations by Dry Drilling of Magnesium Alloy UNS M11917 for Aeronautical Components

“…The main advantages of magnesium alloys are their low density, high availability, high recyclability, and good properties for foundry and machining, such as high specific strength and good weldability under a controlled atmosphere. Nevertheless, there are also a few disadvantages such as low creep resistance above 100 • C, low resistance to corrosion, hardness, and they are difficult to form at room temperature [10,11]. Magnesium's high chemical reactivity is another drawback that is closely related to problems during machining [12].…”

“…The cutting conditions for turning used in previous experimental works were as follows: cutting speed from 75 to 2400 m/min; feed rate from 0.05 to 0.65 mm/rev; and depth of cut from 0.2 to 5 mm. For milling, the parameter values were the same order of magnitude [1,10,[19][20][21][22].…”