To reach the rarefied atmosphere of space, the use of lightweight materials is essential due to the massive energy requirements and extremely high costs of transporting equipment out of the Earth's atmosphere.
The European Cooperation for Space Standardisation’s specification for Space Product Assurance, ECSS-Q-ST-70-36C, covers Material Selection for Controlling Stress Corrosion Cracking. This specification ranks materials as to their capacity to resist Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC), with those materials listed in the top Table 5-1 being “Alloys with high resistance to stresscorrosion cracking”. Elektron 21 is the only magnesium alloy in this table to combine elevated temperature strength, corrosion resistance and the consistent property benefits of zirconium grain refining with the lightweight benefits of magnesium, and, of course, resistance to stress-corrosion cracking.
Magnesium alloys are the lightest structural metals available and have been specified in the construction of satellite components used since the earliest space programmes.
Magnesium alloys for satellite components are primarily in the wrought form with AZ31, AZM and AZ61 being widely utilised.
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