Magnesium Alloys Explained: Properties, HCP Slip & Twinning | Lecture 1

Why is magnesium an attractive lightweight engineering metal, yet difficult to deform at room temperature? This university lecture introduces the physical metallurgy of magnesium and explains how its hexagonal close-packed crystal structure controls slip, twinning and mechanical behaviour. In this lecture, you will learn: • The history and discovery of magnesium • Important transportation, aerospace, healthcare and military applications • Magnesium’s atomic structure and HCP crystal structure • The advantages of magnesium, including low density, high specific strength, castability, machinability and damping capacity • Engineering limitations such as poor room-temperature formability, corrosion, shrinkage and flammability concerns • Magnesium extraction through calcination, the Pidgeon process and the Dow electrolysis process • Basal, prismatic and pyramidal slip systems • Deformation twinning and magnesium twin boundaries • Critical resolved shear stress for different deformation modes • How temperature changes the activation of slip and twinning • Why commercially pure magnesium is normally alloyed for engineering applications This lecture is suitable for students of materials science, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, automotive engineering and aerospace engineering. PRESENTED BY Dr Dikai Guan, University of Southampton, https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/... What aspect of magnesium deformation would you like to explore in greater depth? Share your question in the comments. Subscribe for more university lectures on physical metallurgy, engineering alloys and advanced materials. #Magnesium #MagnesiumAlloys #MaterialsScience