the future of low cost, low impact structural metal
the lightest structural metal
For a century, magnesium has eliminated vehicle deadweight in cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, and in space. Lightweight materials have been pursued for decades to meet fuel efficiency standards but are needed now more than ever to preserve electric vehicle range in a world of lithium-ion battery supply constraints.
Fast and easy to cast and machine
Tesla pioneered giga-casting technology for making huge aluminum parts in one step. Legacy automakers thought it was crazy but it worked. Magnesium is a good casting material, cooling quickly without degrading tooling while offering easy machining. Chinese companies have already giga-casted it.
Easily recycled unlike carbon fiber composites
Magnesium metal is easily recycled like aluminum. Other light materials like carbon fiber composites are uneconomic to recycle so are landfilled at end of life. Most metal can only be recycled 10-20x before it’s uncollected or lost to dross in recycling, so making structural metal from natural resources will be needed for eternity.
benign to health of humans and ecosystems
Magnesium is totally benign to the health of humans, animals, and plants. The chlorophyll molecule that makes plants green has a magnesium ion at its center. Magnesium compounds are a popular dietary supplement because some nutritionists believe we’re not consuming enough of it in our food.
inherently circular and carbon negative metal
If not recycled after decades of use, magnesium metal slowly converts into magnesium hydroxide, dissolves in water, and eventually flows to the sea. In the ocean, it delivers two units of alkalinity that sequesters carbon dioxide. The magnesium production cycle is effectively circular when made from seawater.
