An Assessment of Lightweight Vehicles to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions with Focus on Magnesium

As a result of tougher regulatory requirements to control greenhouse gas emissions, vehicle weight reduction appears as one of the alternatives. In view of this, the use of lightweight materials to replace conventional steel in passenger vehicles with internal combustion engines has gained permanent attention. This work assesses the potential of replacing to automotive steel components by light metals, with a focus on magnesium, to achieve mass reduction and, consequently, reduced fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Magnesium is the eight most abundant element available on Earth and composes about 2% of Earth’s crust by weight. The very low density of magnesium makes it very suitable for light weighting, as it is also a third lighter than aluminium, and threequarters lighter than steel. The corrosion resistance is also higher than traditional aluminium. Cast magnesium also solidifies faster due to lower latent heat, hence more castings can be produced than aluminium at one given time. The opportunities for innovation in alloying, processing and integration of magnesium to automotive applications are, therefore, overviewed.