Weight saving is an important challenge for various industries, including transportation (automotive, aeronautical, or bullet-train manufacturing), electronic devices, and intelligent robotics. Finding lighter-weight materials is, therefore, a popular research subject because of its potential impact on peoples’ daily life. This is especially true in the modern automotive industry, where better fuel economy and reduction of CO₂ emissions are now even more important requirements in technology development as the global number of cars owned is expected to keep growing.
A significant trend when making parts is to replace steel with a light metal or a high-strength resin. Magnesium is regarded as a prospective next-generation high-performance material. In fact, the Nonferrous Metals Division of the Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has published a report titled “Nonferrous Metal Industrial Strategy 2016”, which proposes a marketing plan for these light metals, including magnesium.
This article demonstrates examples of multifaceted non-destructive analyses on raw and surface-treated AZ31B, a representative magnesium alloy, using laboratory X-ray analyzers, which are useful nondestructive analysis tools.