jhassing

iTrader: (3)

I’m back into RC after a very long break. My first car was a Holiday Buggy and my previous last was an original RC10. I see that most car parts these days are made out of the same stuff they used to be made of although titanium seems more prolific; lots of plastic, carbon composite, carbon fiber, graphite and aluminum in cars these days. What I don’t see is magnesium. Production is not that much more expensive than aluminum anymore and it’s much lighter yet almost as durable.

With the strength to weight ratio why aren’t model manufacturers taking the step into Mg?

pgaert

iTrader: (8)

Familiarity. Mg is a strongly favorable material for many RC applications due to lighter weight and lower casting and machining costs, but the folks making parts and familiar and comfortable with Al. There's also a historic lack of information about repeated stressors and their effect of Mg parts. Put these together, and you've got a lot of difficulty successfully designing parts for long-term use.

Stealth_RT

iTrader: (5)

The early Yokomo YZ-10 had a magnesium front bulkhead. It was too weak/brittle and, when it became available, most people replaced it with the RPM plastic/nylon front bulkhead. Magnesium is just too weak and too pricey. When cars are already bending/breaking good aluminum alloy parts, 'almost as durable' isn't good enough, especially for a very small weight savings. If you even save any weight. You'd have to make the magnesium part a lot bulkier to have a chance of it holding up and not breaking.

pgaert

iTrader: (8)

You can create a magnesium alloy for almost any level of ductility and yield strength desired, and I doubt anyone would make an RC part out of pure Mg. That an inappropriate choice was made on one part doesn't really say anything.