The MAGNEXTRUSCO project: European Community Research on Hydrostatic Extrusion of Magnesium

Following the breakthrough for cast magnesium parts, interest is now spreading to wrought products. These provide for an additional variety of possible forms, while the better strength and ductility as compared to cast products will also be of distinct benefit for structural and crash-relevant components such as for transport means. This intrinsic potential, however, can be opened up only if the full processing chain is improved, including the tailoring of alloys and the development of suitable and economically viable production processes from the base metal up to the finished product. A consortium of industrial and research organizations from across Europe is working in this field within the project entitled “Hydrostatic Extrusion Process for Efficient Production of Magnesium Structural Components” (acronym: MAGNEXTRUSCO). The ambition is to pave the way for the realization of lightweight, cost-effective and safe magnesium structures based on extrusions. A major innovation in this respect is a new manufacturing route for magnesium sections, using hot hydrostatic extrusion. Further, new alloys as well as postextrusion processes (forming, joining) are being addressed. The program includes also a number of demonstrators from a variety of application areas. This paper gives an introduction to the project regarding general issues such as motivation, goals and partnership. Further, the technical state of affairs will be discussed. Additional information – such as on previous publications [1–3] – is accessible through the project’s homepage [4]. Also, a further contribution to this conference that is dedicated to alloy and extrusion process development is included in the symposium on wrought alloys [5].