Towards Mg Based Light Materials of Future: Properties, Applications, Problems, and Their Mitigation

The use of lighter materials is one of the efficient means to mitigate the increasing demands on fuel resources, reduce CO₂ emissions. Mg is one of the lightest material available and possesses exciting range of properties such as low density and high strength to weight ratio. Despite such exciting properties, the applications of Mg and its alloys were very limited in aerospace, automotive, and biomedical industries but recently the application is picking-up. The restricted application is attributed to anisotropy, poor corrosive resistance, and inflammability of Mg. The current review addresses the barriers limiting the widespread application of Mg based materials. Furthermore, the mitigation of the problems of anisotropy, poor corrosion resistance, ductility, and inflammability of Mg are critically reviewed. The findings of this research provide insights of the processing techniques, properties and how to address the potential barriers of limited applications. The review paper will assist and motivate the researchers to ponder and overcome numerous problems related to Mg and its alloys by understanding the importance of each problem discussed in this review. An attempt has also been made to arrange research status on issues and the mitigation thereof with respect to Mg and its alloys as single reference point.