ISSN (1897-3310)

ARCHIVES Volume 7
Issue 3/2007
of 11 16
FOUNDRY ENGINEERING
Published quarterly as the organ of the Foundry Commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences
2/3

Ultralight Magnesium-Lithium Alloys

A. Biaobrzeski a,b, K. Saja a, K. Hubner a
a
Foundry Research Institute, Zakopiaska Str., 7330-418 Krakw, Poland
b
University of Bielsko-Biaa, Willowa Str. 2, 43-309 Bielsko-Biaa, Poland

Received on: 02.04.2007; Approved for printing on: 27.04.2007

Abstract
The article gives basic information on the chief constituents of Mg-Li alloys and on their expected properties. A schematic representation
and technical performance of a pilot stand for melting and pouring of reactive ultralight magnesium-based alloys have been presented.
The preliminary data regarding the manufactured magnesium alloys with about 2-3 % Li and about 10 % Li have been given in the form
of microstructures and chemical compositions.

Keywords: Magnesium-lithium alloys, Microstructural examinations

dissolves in seawater. It does not practically enter into reaction

1. Introduction with cold fresh water, but very effectively displaces hydrogen
from hot water. Magnesium is sometimes called the element of
Magnesium-lithium alloys belong to the family of ultralight
life as it forms one of the components of chlorophyl (which
materials. Their specific gravity with maximum lithium content
contains about 2% Mg), indispensable in the process of
applicable nowadays (14 -16 % max.) amounts to 1,35-1,45
photosynthesis. The mass of a grown up man contains about 25 g
g/cm3, which means that it is not much higher than the specific
of magnesium. It is the element necessary in correct functioning
gravity of water (1,0 g/cm3).[1,3,4] of the mans nervous and cardio-vascular system.
Magnesium (Mg, Lat. magnesium) of the atomic number 12 is Magnesium is obtained in an electrothermal process or during
characterised by a hexagonal crystallographic structure, and at electrolysis. In former case the metal is obtained directly from
ambient temperature it has the density of 1,738 g/cm3. The magnesium oxide through its reduction with metals under the
melting point of magnesium is 650 0C, and the evaporation conditions of reduced pressure (the methods developed by
temperature is 1107,0 0C [12]. Magnesium was discovered in year Magnethers, Knapsack-Giesheim). Electrolytic methods (Dow,
1808 by the British scientist Sir Humprhrey Davy. Metallic Magnola) consist in electrolysis of molten mixture of salts, like
magnesium was obtained in 1828 by A.A. Bussy through anhydrous chlorides of magnesium, calcium, potassium and
reduction with potassium of molten magnesium chloride; in 1833 sodium, and fluorides of calcium and sodium, obtaining finally
W. Faraday obtained magnesium during electrolysis of molten magnesium of 99,99 % purity. Of great technical importance are
chlorides. magnesium alloys with aluminium, zinc and manganese, where
In the Earths crust there is about 2,33 wt.% of magnesium Al and Zn increase the alloy strength, while Mn improves the
contained in almost 200 of the well-known minerals, mainly in corrosion resistance. The alloying additions which increase the
the form of carbonates, magnesites and potassium-magnesium strength at elevated temperatures and plastic properties as well as
salts. Another source of magnesium is seawater; magnesium is resistance to the oxidising effect are beryllium, calcium, cerium,
also found in the water of some salt lakes. In one ton of the cadmium, and titanium. Iron, silicon and nickel deteriorate the
seawater are dissolved about 4 kg of magnesium. Magnesium is a mechanical properties of alloys and their corrosion resistance.
very active metal - at a temperature of about 550 0C in the air it Castings made from magnesium alloys weigh by about 20-30 %
ignites with a flashing flare; in the atmosphere of chlorine is less than castings made from aluminium alloys and by 50-75 %
ignites even at room temperature. It is resistant to the effect of less than analogical castings made from ferrous alloys. The price
some acids, soda, alkalies, hydrocarbons, and mineral oils, and it of 1 kg of magnesium is at a level of 2 USD.

ARCHIVES of FOUNDRY ENGINEERING Volume 7, Issue 3/2007, 11-16 11

Magnesium alloys offer a very advantageous strength-to-density is effectively utilised in air purification installations, e.g. in
and/or elastic modulus-to-density ratio, which means that they submarines, in masks and air conditioners. Some organic
can transfer static and dynamic loads in a way similar as alloys of compounds of lithium, e.g. stearate, palmitate) preserve their
iron and aluminium do, offering - moreover - a good damping physico-chemical properties within a large range of temperatures
capacity. They are resistant to corrosion (provided the level of and form a base constituent of lubricants, useful specially at low
contamination with iron, nickel and copper is effectively temperatures (lithium lubricants). Lithium is also used in glass
reduced), and are resistant to alternate mechanical loads, also at industry (it reduces the glass solubility and improves optical
elevated temperatures. properties of glasses). Lithium fluoride is known to have the
At present, the increasing degree of magnesium alloys application highest, among all the materials known in optics, transparency for
in automotive industry is, on one hand, dictated by current price ultraviolet radiation. Lenses made from monocrystals of this salt
of these alloys while, on the other, it is steered by the legal are used in construction of special telescopes. In nuclear
regulations which claim that it is necessary to reduce fuel technology, lithium deuteride is used as fuel in the, so called,
consumption in standard vehicles, e.g. in USA to a level of 5,9 lithium reactors. Lithium is also used as a moderator controlling
l/100 km in city traffic, and in EU to a level of 3 l/100km. The the intensity of nuclear reactions. In nuclear power engineering it
most effective way to achieve this goal is by reducing the weight is used as a carrier of thermal energy in the primary circuits of
of a car. It is estimated that reducing the weight of a car by 10 % heat exchangers operating in reactors of the power plants.
results in 5,5 % reduction of fuel consumption which, in turn, Lithium is also one of the two most effective propellants in
enables reducing the level of exhaust gas.The weight of rockets (solid propellant rockets), since its calorific value is at a
magnesium alloy elements used in modern cars may reach about level of 10 000 kcal/kg. Only beryllium (Be) is characterised by a
50 kg. Magnesium alloys are at present used also in aircraft higher calorific values of 15 000 kcal/kg. For comparison, the
(construction of airframe parts) and aerospace industry as well as calorific value of kerosene (also used as a propellant in liquid
in electronics (casings of notebooks, cell telephones, etc.), in propellant rockets) is only 2 300 kcal/kg, while that of
nuclear installations, e.g. neutron-absorbing reactor housings, in nitroglycerine (known to be one the strongest explosives) is at a
manufacture of household appliances, etc. Castings are mainly level of 1 500 kcal/kg. There are patents (USA) for solid rocket
made on the pressure die casting machines (about 90%). propellants containing 51-68% lithium.
Another field of magnesium applications are the metallurgical First attempts at using lithium as a constituent in metal alloys
processes, e.g. spheroidising treatment of cast iron and were made during the First World War. During that period the
deoxidising of metal bath. German industry suffered from the defficiency of tin, necessary to
produce bearings. An alloy of lead and lithium - developed by
Lithium (Li) of the atomic number 3 crystallises in body-centered Jan Czochralski - has proved to be an excellent bearing metal,
cubic lattice and at ambient temperature has the density of 0,53 used mainly for the wheels of railway cars - hence it name
g/cm3. The melting point of lithium is 180,54 0C, and the Bahnmetal. There are known lithium alloys in combination
temperature of evaporation is 1347,0 0C [12]. This elements was with aluminium, beryllium, copper, zinc, silver, etc. Particularly
discovered by the Swedish chemist Jochan Arfvedson in 1817 bright future opens for alloys from the magnesium-lithium family.
when making analysis of the mineral petalite. It was called by If attempts at making a permanent magnesium-based alloys with
him lithium (Gr. litheos - stone). In 1855, the German chemist lithium content above 50 % ended in success, then the density of
Bunsen and, independent of him, the English physician Matissen such alloys would be close to the density of water.
obtained pure, metallic lithium in the electrolysis of molten The fact that an element is commonly encountered in the Earths
lithium chloride. The Earths crust contains about 6,510-3 wt.% crust does not necessarily mean that this common occurrence
Li. The main world deposits of lithium in the form of mineral are remains in straight relationship with its price, which also depends
located in Australia, Chile, China, and also in Canada, USA, on the volume and cost of production. The price of lithium is
Russia, Zimbabwe and in a few other places [10]. The price of 1 high, still it is considerably lower than the price of such transient
kg of lithium is at a level of 30 USD [5,11]. elements (present in magnesium-based alloys) as Sc or Y. The
Lithium is a soft, silvery-white metal almost two times lighter lanthanides widely used in research of basic magnesium alloys
than water. It enters into very violent reaction with nitrogen and are more expensive than lithium by one order of magnitude.
oxygen. At a temperature above 200 0C it burns with white flame. Over the past few years, magnesium-lithium alloys with the
Under standard conditions lithium forms on its surface a layer of alloying additions of Al, Cd., Zn and Ag have been raising a very
Li3N, mainly because at low temperatures it is characterised by vivid interest. The solubility of lithium in magnesium
greater affinity to nitrogen than to oxygen. At higher temperatures characterised by a hexagonal structure is very low and amounts to
the surface of lithium is coated with LiO2. Lithium decomposes about 5 wt.%, while magnesium forms the solid solution in a
water with evolution of H2 and LiOH. Because of its high very wide range of values, since up to 90 wt.% of this element is
chemical reactivity, lithium in the form of granules, rods, or successfully dissolving in lithium of the body-centered cubic
ribbons must be stored under the cover of paraffin oil or structure (Fig. 1).
kerosene, in air-tight vacuum sealed containers, or protected by
the atmosphere of noble gases. Some master alloys containing
lithium, e.g. Al-Li, are also produced. Lithium compounds fix
large volumes of hydrogen, e.g. in 1 kg of lithium hydroxide is
fixed 2800 litres of hydrogen. This property of litium compounds

12 ARCHIVES of FOUNDRY ENGINEERING Volume 7, Issue 3/2007, 11-16

 2. Experimental
The first stage of the experimental work was related with
designing and development of technical guidelines for
construction of a pilot stand which should enable manufacture of
magnesium-lithium alloys. Taking into account high reactivity of
these alloys, both melting process and pouring of pilot castings
had to be conducted under a controlled protective gas atmosphere
maintained in both the melting space (crucible) and pouring
chamber. This forced the use of a stoppered crucible, connected
directly with the pouring chamber. A resistance furnace of 1,5
kW power provided with a crucible holding approximately 3 kg
of Mg alloys was used. The protective atmosphere was a mixture
of Ar and FS6. The applied system of temperature control in
crucible enabled its stabilisation at an accuracy of +/-3 0C.

Fig. 1. Phase equilibrium diagram for Mg-Li alloys and change

in alloy density as a function of the changing lithium
content in Mg-Li alloy according to [8,9]

Lithium has a favourable effect on the deformability of

magnesium alloys replacing the hardly deformable hexagonal -
Mg (hcp) lattice with a body-centered cubic -Li lattice (bcc),
which reduces mechanical properties due to the appearance of
phase. An optimum combination of the properties is obtained in
the range of binary + alloys containing over 10 wt.% lithium.
Figure 1 also shows the change in Mg-Li alloy density in function
of the alloy chenical composition. From the plotted curve it
follows that it is possible to obtain an alloy of the density lower
even than 1 [g/cm3]. Alloys with lithium content comprised in this Fig 2. Schematic diagram of pilot stand for melting and pouring
range are in as-cast condition characterised by the elongation of of ultralight alloys
60 %. Adding aluminium to Mg-Li alloys [9] results in
appearance of a hexagonal phase in the structure, which is a
solid solution of Al in Mg characterised by a limited
deformability, of a ductile phase, which is a solid solution of
Al in Li characterised by a body-centered cubic lattice, of a hard
(allowing precipitation hardening) intermetallic aluminium-
lithium compound, and of phase characterised by a B 2
structure. The toughness of such alloys increases with increasing
content of + eutectic. Sometimes the alloys also contain a
metastable Li2MgAl phase [ 2, 10,13].
In spite of quite abundant reference literature, the majority of
the available publications on Mg-Li alloys are of a strictly
academic nature. On the other hand, information on the physico-
chemical properties or technological processes of making
magnesium-lithium alloys is but only very scarce.

ARCHIVES of FOUNDRY ENGINEERING Volume 7, Issue 3/2007, 11-16 13

 Magnesium alloys are very plastic and this causes serious
technical problems with correct preparation of metallographic
sections. The sections were etched in 4 % HNO3 and examined
under polarised light. On successive drawings the microstructures
obtained in Mg-Li alloys are shown.

Fig. 5. Microstructure of Mg-Li alloy containing 1,77 % Li;

Fig 3. Schematic diagram of pilot stand for melting and pouring
of ultralight alloys with well visible pouring chamber -Mg-Li matrix (hcp) 100x, section etched in 4 % HNO3 ,
and dies in position polarised light

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the pilot stand, while.

The task of the first stage of the research was mastering the
technology of making Mg-Li alloys and development of basic
technological parameters of the melting and pouring process. The
alloys were obtained from pure constituents, i.e. from magnesium
and lithium, where lithium was used in the form of granules and
ribbons. The first melts were conducted starting with the lowest
lithium content, i.e. 2-3%; in the next melts this level was raised
to about 10% Li. From thus obtained alloys, the keel blocks
commonly used for mechanical tests were cast in the atmosphere
of protective gas. From these castings the specimens for
metallographic examinations were cut out. In view of the high
reactivity of these alloys, preparation of the metallographic
sections required application of special methods [9,10].
Fig. 6. Microstructure of Mg-Li alloy containing 2,12 % Li;
-Mg-Li matrix (hcp) 25x, section etched in 4 % HNO3 ,
polarised light

Fig. 4. Microstructure of Mg-Li alloy containing 1,77 % Li;

-Mg-Li matrix (hcp) 25x, section etched in 4 % HNO3
polarised light
Fig. 7. Microstructure of Mg-Li alloy containing 2,12 % Li;
-MgLi matrix (hcp) 100x, section etched in 4 % HNO3 ,
polarised light

14 ARCHIVES of FOUNDRY ENGINEERING Volume 7, Issue 3/2007, 11-16

 Fig. 11. Microstructure of Mg-Li alloy containing 10,7 % Li;
Fig. 8. Microstructure of Mg-Li alloy containing 3,01 % Li; -MgLi matrix (bcc) 100x, section etched in 4 % HNO3 ,
-MgLi matrix (bcc), 25x, section etched in 4 % HNO3 , polarised light
polarised light

Since literature gives practically no information on

microstructural examinations of -Mg-Li alloys by the methods
of optical microscopy, it is difficult to explain the appearance of
these alloys in polarised light. One can only suppose that this is
caused [11,12,13] by the presence of a hexagonal lattice of -
MgLi solution (hcp).
The alloys microhardness was also measured by the Vickers
method. The three examined lithium alloys are characterised by
the hardness at a level of 51,0- 61,0 units.

Table 1.
The results of Vickers microhardness measurements
f orce of 50 G
Fig. 9. Microstructure of Mg-Li alloy containing 3,01 % Li;
-MgLi matrix (bcc) 100x, section etched in 4 % HNO3 ,
No. Specimen Average microhardness
polarised light

1 MgLi-1,77 51,00

2 MgLi--2,12 59,07

3 MgLi-10,7 61,70

From analysis of the data given in literature [9] it follows that for
Mg-12Li alloy the hardness of about 50 HV (at the force of
500G) was obtained, while according to [11] the MgLi-8,7 alloy
offered the hardness of 36 BHN. From these data it follows that
Mg-Li alloys are very plastic, which is confirmed by the results of
research described in [7], where an increase in lithium content
Fig. 10. Microstructure of Mg-Li alloy containing 10,7 % Li;
from 0 to 16% was reported to increase the impact strength of
-MgLi matrix (bcc), 25x, section etched in 4 % HNO3 ,
Mg-Li alloy from about 7 [J/cm2] to 43 [J/cm2]!
polarised light

ARCHIVES of FOUNDRY ENGINEERING Volume 7, Issue 3/2007, 11-16 15

 [5] Ober J.A.: LITHIUM. US. Geological Survey. Mineral
3. Conclusions Commodity Summaries, January 1998, p.98-98.
[6] Svoystva eliemientov: Sprav. izd./pod red. Drica M.E.,
- on a unique pilot stand, binary alloys of Mg-Li were
Mietallurgiya, Moskva 1985.
obtained,
[7] Bach F.W., Niemeyer M., Haferkamp H. Density reduced
- unique photographs of the microstructure of these alloys
magnesium alloys with increased ductility SFB 390 Project A:
were taken; on these microphotographs will be based
http://www.iw.unihannover.de/sfb/sfb390/englisch/a4_e.html
further advanced researches on Mg-Li alloys with
[8] ASM Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams 1996 ASM International
elevated lithium content.
[9] Song G.S., Staiger M., Kral M., Some new characteristic of
The study was conducted under a Commissioned Research
the strengthening phase in -phase magnesium-lithium alloys
Project no. PBZ KBN 114/T 08/2004.
containing aluminum and beryllium Materials Science and
Engineering A 371 (2004) 371-376.
References [10] Padfield T.B., Sachs Z.F., Metallography and microstructure
of magnesium and its alloys ASM Handbook -
[1] Gulayev B.B. Sintiez splavov (Osnovnyje principy. Vybor Metallography and Microstructure vol 9, 2004.
komponientov). Mietallurgiya, Moskva, 1984. [11] Sanschagrin A. Tremblay R., Angers R., Dibe D.,
[2] Grny Z., Sobczak J.: Nowoczesne tworzywa odlewnicze na Mechanical properties and microstructure of new
bazie metali nieelaznych. Wyd. ZA-PIS, Krakw, 2005. magnesium-lithium base alloys - Materials Science and
[3] Ashby M.F., Jonem D.R.H.: Materiay inynierskie Engineering A 220 (1996) 69-71.
waciwoci i zastosowania. Wydawnictwa Naukowo- [12] Conn G.K.T., Bradshaw F.J., Polarized light in
Techniczne. Warszawa, 1995. metallography Butterworths Scientific Publications 1952.
[4] Ashby M.F.: Dobr materiaw projektowanie [13] Vander Voort G.F. Color Metallography ASM Handbook -
inynierskie. Wydawnictwa Naukowo-Techniczne, Metallography and Microstructure vol 9, 2004.
Warszawa 1998.

16 ARCHIVES of FOUNDRY ENGINEERING Volume 7, Issue 3/2007, 11-16