The dream of an reasonably priced and dependable automotive for peculiar individuals has been a driving drive all through automotive historical past. A truth that isn’t broadly identified is that magnesium from Norsk Hydro is one necessary ingredient within the Beetle.
The dream of an reasonably priced and dependable automotive for peculiar individuals has been a driving drive all through automotive historical past. Henry Ford took a large step together with his Mannequin T, however it was Ferdinand Porsches Volkswagen that introduced a automotive inside the attain of the person on the road. A truth that isn’t broadly identified is that magnesium from Norsk Hydro is one necessary ingredient within the Beetle.
Porsche had determined as early as 1934 to construct a cheap and dependable automotive – a automotive for the individuals – that everybody may drive. Throughout the warfare years, the Volkswagen design was used as a light-weight army car. The Volkswagen ready for the market earlier than the warfare had a completely completely different chassis, however in any other case the army car and the civilian mannequin have been equivalent.
The engine and gearbox have been put in above and behind the rear wheels. This required the drive system to be gentle weight in order that the entrance wheels gripped the highway adequately. The engine was air-cooled, and magnesium was the pure materials alternative for the engine block and kit field. On this connection, Volkswagen constructed a contemporary magnesium foundry at Kassel, Germany.
Each the foundry and the components produced attracted consideration and got here to epitomize fashionable, rational car-part manufacturing within the western world. An in depth cooperation developed between Volkswagen and Hydro. A small automotive and a light-weight steel – produced from rock, water and warmth – joined in a powerful and enduring alliance.
Magnesium from Porsgrunn
Hydro constructed a big magnesium manufacturing plant at Herøya, close to Porsgrunn in Southern Norway, in the beginning of the Fifties; it was actually constructed up on the ruins of amenities bombed throughout the warfare.
After a cautious begin, manufacturing grew steadily to a most 50,000 tonnes per yr. By 1965, manufacturing was as much as 23,500 tonnes. Some 75 per cent of magnesium gross sales went to West Germany, and Volkswagen was by far the most important buyer.
Round 20 kilos of magnesium was utilized in every automotive, and half of this got here from Porsgrunn. Deliveries have been so giant throughout these years that Norway had a commerce surplus with Volkswagen, regardless of excessive imports of the favored Beetle. Volkswagen was additionally a sizeable buyer of Norwegian transport providers.
36 million automobiles for the individuals
When Beetle manufacturing was moved to Brazil in 1980, some 36 million “cars for the people” have been being produced annually. From 1951 to 1981, Volkswagen bought 60 per cent of Hydro’s whole magnesium manufacturing. The collaboration continued till 1990.
In recent times, a number of different automotive makers have additionally began to make use of magnesium; not only for engine blocks, however now for a spread of automotive components, the place magnesium’s low weight, ductility and energy are put into play. Hydro can also be actively concerned in growing magnesium purposes in automotive our bodies, for instance by the corporate Meridien Applied sciences.
A major a part of magnesium manufacturing is for the aluminium trade, the place it’s used as an alloy additive.
Worldwide challenges
Regardless of Hydro’s main function in growing magnesium expertise, the corporate determined in 2002 to shut its manufacturing plant at Porsgrunn and as a substitute focus on additional developments of its facility in Becancour, Canada, constructed within the early Nineteen Nineties. It additionally established entry to steel in China.
The availability of low-cost magnesium from China has led to important adjustments within the magnesium trade in recent times. Costs have plummeted and competitors has sharpened for western producers. Diminishing profitability was additionally one of many causes behind the choice to shut magnesium manufacturing in Porsgrunn after 50 years of operation.
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