Metalpedia
Metalpedia
  • Magnesium: history and industry development
  • Studies are still continuing when it comes to magnesium and its possible applications. However, it all began with its discovery, which can be credited to three individuals, as each chemist is associated with a major breakthrough. Before magnesium was recognized as an element, it had already existed in everyone’s daily life. In 1618, Henry Wicker, a farmer from Epsom in England, attempted to give his cows water from a well. They refused to drink due to the bitter taste of the water. However the farmer noticed that the water seemed to heal scratches and rashes. The fame of Epsom salts spread. Eventually they were recognized to be magnesium sulphate, MgSO4.
  • Joseph Black: A Scottish physician, physicist and chemist who first recognized magnesium as an element in 1755. He found that it was altogether separate from calcium carbonate.
  • Sir Humphry Davy: British chemist widely credited as the person who discovered magnesium in 1808. A pioneer in electrolysis, Davy used the then-new method to isolate magnesium into its own element by electrolyzing a mixture of magnesia (magnesium oxide, MgO) and mercuric oxide (HgO). Davy's first suggestion for a name was magnium but the name magnesium is now used.
  • Antoine A.B. Bussy: A French chemist who was the first to discover a way to isolate magnesium in large quantities. He published his findings in 1831, in "Mémoire sur le Radical métallique de la Magnésie".
  • The name magnesium comes from Magnesia, a district of Thessaly/Greece where it was first found and to this day a lot of magnesium ore is present in the area.
  • Due to its abundant reserves and the metal's unique properties, the magnesium industry will expand in the coming decades. Propelled by the needs of the electronics and automotive industries, world production has continued to rise in recent years.
  • Despite several plant closures in the run-up to the 2008/09 downturn, especially in Canada, production in the USA, Russia and Israel has since expanded, albeit largely to feed demand from rising titanium metal output. Secondary magnesium production is more evenly spread globally, with the USA still the number one recycler. New primary magnesium plants have opened in Malaysia and South Korea since 2010.
  • China tops the world in magnesium reserves, production capacity and volume as well as in exports. Its rapid development illustrates the future of the global magnesium industry.
  • Nevertheless, trade disputes concerning magnesium occur frequently in the international trade markets, which are hindering the development of the industry.
  • The U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, imposed an anti-dumping duty of 339.60% ad valorem on imports of pure magnesium from China by Tianjin Magnesium Metal Co. Ltd. and an affiliate, Tianjin Magnesium International Co. Ltd., between May 1, 2011 and April 30, 2012 (U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, 2013).
  • In 2012, the magnesium alloy market demand is still the main engine driving global primary magnesium consumption. On the one hand, magnesium alloy demand in the automotive industry has slowed down, but still maintained stable growth; on the other hand, the demand from consumer electronics such as tablet PCs and smart phones for die casting products including magnesium alloy shell and brackets has ushered in rapid growth. As a result, China as the largest producer of primary magnesium and magnesium alloys in the world will maintain stable growth in the output of primary magnesium over the next few years.
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