In our daily lives, we can come into contact with a wide variety of products, including those made of plastic, zinc alloy, aluminum alloy, and even some made of magnesium alloy. Have you ever seriously considered a question: Why are these products made of these materials? What kind of materials are more suitable for producing what kind of products? Well, let's have a brief discussion today. What are the differences between aluminum alloy and magnesium alloy materials? And what kind of products are they more suitable for?

I. Density

The density of aluminum alloy is relatively large, usually around 2.7g/cm³. The commonly used aluminum alloy for conventional die casting, ADC12, has this density. Due to this relatively high density, aluminum alloy die castings generally weigh more. Compared with aluminum alloy, the density of magnesium alloy is smaller, usually ranging from 1.7 to 1.9g/cm³. The commonly used magnesium alloy material, AZ91D, has a density of about 1.8g/cm³. This makes magnesium alloy die castings lighter than aluminum alloy die castings of the same volume. It can be seen that magnesium alloy has an advantage over aluminum alloy in some products with high requirements for weight.

II.Cost

The material cost of aluminum alloy is relatively stable, usually around 21 yuan/kg. The sources of its raw materials are relatively extensive, and the recycling utilization rate of aluminum alloy scraps is relatively high, so its price fluctuation is relatively small. In contrast, the material cost of magnesium alloy is relatively high, with larger losses, usually ranging from 23 yuan/kg to 26 yuan/kg. Because the refining process of magnesium is relatively complex, and magnesium alloy is prone to catch fire during the production process, resulting in larger losses, which will increase the cost to a certain extent.

III. Application Fields

Aluminum alloy products are mostly used in components such as automobile engine blocks, transmission housings, and radiators, mainly meeting the performance requirements of high strength and thermal stability of the products. Magnesium alloy is generally applied in the field of thin and light 3C products, such as laptop casings and mobile phone casings, mainly to meet the requirement of product portability.

The above are some of the differences between aluminum alloy and magnesium alloy. Different products can choose suitable materials for production according to specific requirements to achieve the required functions and performance requirements.