Evaluation of a New High Pressure Diecast Magnesium Alloy with Improved Ductility for Self-Piercing Riveting (SPR) Performance

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Growing CO2 emissions from the transportation sector contribute 25% of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions**in which the government has targeted 45-65% reduction by 2050. A 10% saving in vehicle weight leads to ~8%**fuel economy and ~20 kg reduced CO2 emissions per kg of vehicle weight reduced. The automotive sector**contributes over 12% of Canada's manufacturing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with more than 550,000 jobs.**Innovation in vehicle components is of strategic importance for this global & highly competitive industry.**Creating expertise and a technology-base in the magnesium (Mg) automotive parts industry is important for**Canada's global competition, to sustain the current level and to enable future technologies of electric, fuel cell,**and hybrid powered vehicles creating opportunities for new job creation, and environmental sustainability.**Meridian Lightweight Technologies (MLT) is the largest supplier of lightweight Mg die castings in the world,**serving most of the global automotive manufacturers on three continents. To develop a new Mg application,**the organization urgently needs a new Mg alloy which can be fastened by Self-Piercing Riveting (SPR)**technology. SPR exhibits significant challenges in Mg dissimilar metal joints when Mg is the lower layer.**MLT considering the main factors governing the SPR performance of Mg alloys to be tensile ductility in**2017-18, conducted an NSERC Engage with Prof. M. Pekguleryuz (McGill) and developed a new Mg alloy**with 14% higher ductility, better tensile strength & corrosion resistance than the commercial alloy AM50A.**These properties make the new Mg alloy highly interesting for developing new automotive applications. The**development of diecasting alloys is rather challenging. Since commercial diecasting machines are usually made**for casting large parts, early phases of Mg alloy development are customarily conducted on permanent mold**samples, as was in our initial Engage project. MLT uses diecasting to produce their automotive parts. Since the**casting processes have impact on the properties (strength, ductility, corrosion resistance) of Mg alloys, in the**proposed project, the new alloy will be optimized and developed for the diecasting process.