What is Magnesium Alloy?
To know what Magnesium alloy is, we should first learn about magnesium itself. Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point, and high chemical reactivity.
Magnesium alloy is a mixture of magnesium and other alloying metals, usually aluminum, zinc, silicon, manganese, copper, and zirconium. Thanks to adding other metals, magnesium alloy is higher in strength, but it still possesses the main characteristics of magnesium itself, for example its low density.
Key Properties of Magnesium Alloy:
Lightweight
Low density
Good high temperature performance
Magnesium alloy is about 1/4 the density of steel and 2/3 that of aluminum. Magnesium alloy is the lightest structural metallic material, which makes it ideal for use in the aerospace industry. Magnesium alloy has been called “the green structural material of the 21st century,” and it is very possibly a metal that can compete with aluminum alloy in the future in many industries.
What Are the Applications of Magnesium Alloy?
Magnesium alloy is used not only in the aerospace, motorsport, and car manufacturing industries, where its high strength combined with reduced weight is of critical importance, but its use has also expanded to the mobile device, bicycle, and electronic tools fields. Magnesium resources are very rich, and it can be obtained from many ores as well as seawater,. Driven by the core value of providing customer-oriented innovation and service, Olight is now leading the industry in the use of magnesium alloy in flashlights.
ZK61B Magnesium Alloy
The magnesium alloy that Olight uses in the new Baton 3 Pro Max Magnesium Alloy Desert Tan is the specially selected ZK61B. Compared with traditional aluminum alloy, ZK61B is very close to 6061 but noticeably more lightweight.
The use of this new material in a flashlight requires a careful CNC machining process to create the magnesium body of Baton 3 Pro Max Magnesium Alloy. The machining process, though not as difficult or complicated as it is for carbon fiber, nonetheless requires well-trained machinists who are familiar with magnesium alloy’s unique properties.
Introducing a new material to the industry may not be easy, but Olight wants to bring the great characteristics of magnesium alloy, like lightness and sustainability, to its fans all over the world. Olight would like to continue forward with advancements like this and will work hard to bring magnesium alloy construction to more of our products, like headlamps and WMLs.
Let’s all look forward to more new materials and innovations from Olight!
