View source for Elektron (alloy)

{{short description|Range of magnesium alloys}}
{{distinguish|text=[[electrum]], a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver}}
{{other uses|Elektron (disambiguation)|Electron (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
[[File:B1_bomb.jpg | thumb | right | The B1 bomb, which uses Elektron materials]]
'''Elektron''' is the registered [[trademark]] of a wide range of [[magnesium]] [[alloy]]s manufactured by a British company, [[Magnesium Elektron]] Limited.

There are about 100 alloys in the Elektron range, containing from 0% to 9.5% of some of the following elements in varying proportions: [[aluminium]] (< 9.5%), [[yttrium]] (5.25%), [[neodymium]] (2.7%), [[silver]] (2.5%), [[gadolinium]] (1.3%), [[zinc]] (0.9%), [[zirconium]] (0.6%), [[manganese]] (0.5%) and other [[rare-earth metals]].<ref>{{cite book
 |title=Woldman's Engineering Alloys
 |series=Materials data series 
 |editor=John P. Frick 
 |last=Woldman
 |first=Norman E.
 |publisher=ASM International
 |year=2000
 |pages=394–396
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RzMOiOEQ-oMC&pg=PA394
 |isbn=9780871706911}}</ref>

Varying amounts of alloying elements (up to 9.5%) added to the magnesium result in changes to mechanical properties such as increased [[tensile strength]], [[creep (deformation)|creep]] resistance, thermal stability or [[corrosion]] resistance.  Elektron is unusually light and has a [[specific gravity]] of about 1.8 compared with the 2.8 of aluminium alloy, or the 7.9 of steel.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.aeroplanemonthly.co.uk/glossary/E_news_70032.html 
 |title=Glossary E 
 |access-date=4 October 2010 
 |work=Aeroplane Monthly 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110212125852/http://www.aeroplanemonthly.co.uk/glossary/E_news_70032.html 
 |archive-date=12 February 2011 
 |url-status=dead 
 |df=dmy 
}}</ref> Magnesium's relatively low [[density]] makes its alloy variants suitable for use in [[auto racing]] and [[aerospace engineering]] applications.

==History==
'''Elektron''' or ''Elektronmetall'' was first developed in 1908 by Gustav Pistor and Wilhelm Moschel at the [[Bitterfeld]] works of Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron (CFGE or CFG), the headquarters of which was in [[Griesheim (Frankfurt am Main)|Griesheim am Main]], [[Germany]].<ref>{{Cite book
 |title=An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology
 |series=Routledge Companion Encyclopedias
 |first=Ian
 |last=McNeil
 |year=1990
 |publisher=Taylor & Francis
 |isbn=9780415013062
 |pages=114–7
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WW4Q-vMA6IMC&pg=PA114}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
 |last=Aichele
 |first=G.
 |title=Deutsche Magnesium-Produktion in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhundert
 |language=de
 |journal=International Aluminium Journal
 |volume=83
 |date=September 2007
 |pages=84–7
 |url=http://www.alu-web.de/fileadmin/material/epaper/dowloads/Aluminium/Aluminium_Zeitung_09_07.pdf
 |access-date=11 October 2013
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222071114/http://www.alu-web.de/fileadmin/material/epaper/dowloads/Aluminium/Aluminium_Zeitung_09_07.pdf
 |archive-date=22 February 2014
 |url-status=dead
 }}</ref> The composition of the initial Elektron alloy was approximately Mg 90%, Al 9%, other 1%. At its pavilion at the International Aviation Fair (Internationale Luftschiffahrt-Ausstellung, ILA) in [[Frankfurt am Main]] in 1909, CFG exhibited an [[Adler (automobile)|Adler]] 75HP engine with a cast magnesium alloy crankcase.<ref>{{cite book
 |title=Magnesium Technology: Metallurgy, Design Data, Applications
 |first1=Horst E. 
 |last1=Friedrich
 |first2=Barry L. 
 |last2=Mordike
 |year=2006
 |publisher=Springer
 |isbn=9783540308126
 |pages=4–5
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2z4UrFgJ2mkC&pg=PA4}}</ref> Also exhibiting at the 1909 Frankfurt Air Exhibition was [[August Euler]] (1868–1957) – owner of German pilot's licence No. 1 – who manufactured [[Voisin 1907 biplane|Voisin biplane]]s under licence in [[Griesheim (Frankfurt am Main)|Griesheim am Main]]. His Voisins with Adler 50&nbsp;hp engines flew in October 1909.<ref>{{cite book
 |title=Geschichte der Luftfahrt, Volume 1: Geschichte, Flugzeuge
 |language=de
 |first=Hans 
 |last=von Lüneberg 
 |publisher=Reinhard Welz Vermittler Verlag e.K.
 |year=2003 
 |isbn=9783937081625
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CUwRfm_zsAgC&pg=PA92}}</ref>

CFG joined the newly created [[IG Farben]] as an associate company in 1916.  During the Allied Occupation after [[World War I]], a Major Charles J. P. Ball, DSO, MC, of the [[Royal Horse Artillery]] was stationed in Germany. He later joined F. A. Hughes and Co. Ltd., which began manufacturing elektron in the UK under licence from IG Farben from around 1923.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Advertisements: Industry |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1935/1935%20-%201537.PDF |journal=Flight |date=27 June 1935 |page=17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610211920/https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1935/1935%20-%201537.PDF |archive-date=10 June 2015 |access-date=1 January 2023}}</ref>

CFG merged fully with the IG Farben conglomerate in 1925 along with Versuchsbau [[Hellmuth Hirth]] (a copper alloy manufacturer), to form another company, [[Hirth|Elektronmetall]] [[Bad Cannstatt]] [[Stuttgart]]. In 1935, IG Farben, [[Imperial Chemical Industries|ICI]] and F. A. Hughes and Co. (22% shares) founded [[Magnesium Elektron]] Ltd. of [[Clifton, Greater Manchester]]. The company is still manufacturing alloys in 2017.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.zrchem.com/company-profile-article.asp?id=14
 |work        = MEL Chemicals
 |title       = Company history
 |access-date  = 25 January 2013
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20121016051000/http://www.zrchem.com/company-profile-article.asp?id=14
 |archive-date = 16 October 2012
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
 |last=Wagner
 |first=Dieter
 |title=Chemische Fabrik Griesheim – Pioneer of Electrochemistry
 |journal=Journal of Business Chemistry
 |date=May 2006
 |url=http://www.businesschemistry.org/article/?article=74
 |access-date=11 October 2013
 |archive-date=22 February 2014
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222215700/http://www.businesschemistry.org/article/?article=74
 |url-status=dead
 }}</ref>

==Uses==
Elektron has been used in [[Zeppelin]] airships, aircraft, and motor racing applications.

[[Incendiary bomb]]s using elektron were developed towards the end of the First World War by both Germany (the B-1E ''Elektronbrandbombe'' or ''Stabbrandbombe'') and the UK. Although neither side used this type of bomb operationally during the conflict, [[Erich Ludendorff]] mentions in his memoirs a plan to bomb Paris with a new type of incendiary bomb with the aim of overwhelming the city's fire services;<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Ludendorff
 |first=Erich
 |title=Mein Kriegserinnerungen 1914–1918 (My War Memoirs 1914–1918)
 |language=de
 |year=1919
 |publisher=Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn
 |location=Berlin
 |page=565
 |url=https://archive.org/details/Ludendorff-Erich-Meine-Kriegserinnerungen}} "Because of the gravity of our position, the Supreme Command could not hope that air-raids on London and Paris would make the enemy more disposed to sue for peace. Permission was therefore refused for the use of a particularly effective incendiary bomb, expressly designed for attacks on the two capitals, which had been produced in great quantities during the month of August (1918) and which was to have been used in the air-bombardment of the two capitals. The considerable destruction which would have ensued would no longer be enough to influence the course of the war; one could not tolerate carrying out such destruction for its own sake."</ref> this planned raid was also reported in ''[[Le Figaro]]'' on 21 December 1918.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63755791#pstart5312606 ''The Mail'' (Adelaide), 21 December 1918, p. 1].</ref> The lightness of elektron meant that a large aeroplane like one of the ''[[Riesenflugzeug]]'' heavy bombers could carry hundreds of bomblets.<ref>Hanson, Neil. ''First Blitz'', Doubleday, London, 2008. p. 414 (Chapter 17).</ref> 

British and German incendiary bombs used extensively during [[World War II]] weighed about 1&nbsp;kg and consisted of an outer casing made of elektron alloy, which was filled with [[thermite]] pellets and fitted with a fuse. The fuse ignited the thermite, which in turn ignited the magnesium casing; it burned for about 15 minutes. Trying to douse the fire with water only [[Magnesium#Flammability|intensified the reaction]]. It could not be extinguished and burned at such a high temperature that it could penetrate armour plate.<ref>{{cite web
 | url         = http://airminded.org/2007/10/23/a-not-very-possible-fact/
 | title       = A not very possible fact 
 | last        = Holman 
 | first       = Brett 
 | date        = 23 October 2007 
 | work        = Airminded – Air power and British Society 1908–1941
 | access-date= 18 July 2019
 }}</ref>

In 1924, magnesium alloys (AZ; 2,5–3,0% Al; 3,0–4,0% Zn) were used in automobile pistons diecast by Elektronmetall Bad Cannstatt, another IG Farben company formed out of Versuchsbau Hellmuth Hirth.

The main engine bearers of the [[Messerschmitt Bf 109]] and the [[Junkers Ju 87]] were made from forged elektron.<ref>{{cite web |last=Brown |first=Robert E. |title=Review of magnesium for the 75th anniversary of the IMA |date=17 May 2018 |url=https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.intlmag.org/resource/resmgr/conf2018/session1-2-brown-bob-reduced.pdf |pages=4–5 |access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref> The air-cooled [[BMW 801]] [[radial engine|radial]] aero engine that powered the [[Focke-Wulf Fw 190]] had a fan made of magnesium alloy, very probably elektron. 

An advertisement in the German trade paper ''Flugsport'' in 1939 claimed that the record-breaking [[Arado Ar 79]] aircraft contained 25% by weight of elektron, mostly in the [[Hirth HM 504|Hirth HM 504 A2]] 4-cylinder inline engine whose crankcase was made of Elektron.<ref>{{cite journal
 |title=Werkstoff-Volumenanteile der 'AR' 79 
 |trans-title=Materials proportions by volume of the AR 79 (advertising back matter)&nbsp;
 |journal=Flugsport
 |place=Frankfurt/Main
 |volume=31
 |issue=8
 |date=12 April 1939
 |lang=de
 |page=229 [pdf 32]
 |url=https://archive.org/details/leseprobe-flugsport-1939/page/n31/mode/1up}}</ref>

The connectors for the fuel pipes in the engine compartment of [[Tiger II]] tanks were originally made of elektron, but they distorted when clamped and were replaced with steel ones.<ref>{{cite book  <!-- {{sfn|Jentz|Doyle|1997b|p -->  |last1=Jentz |first1=Thomas L. |last2=Doyle |first2=H. L. |title=Germany's Tiger Tanks: VK 45.02 to Tiger II - Design, Production and Modifications |date=1997b
 |isbn= 9780764302244 |place=Atglen, PA |page=64 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing}}</ref>

[[Siemens-Halske]] used elektron casings for their ''[[Hellschreiber]]'' military teleprinter used during WW2.<ref>Dorenberg, F. (2010) [http://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/hellschreiber-components.htm#construction Feld-Hellschreiber Components]. Accessed 10 October 2013.</ref> 

The prototype 4-seater 1948 [[Planet Satellite]] had a [[monocoque]] fuselage of elektron, a solid elektron keel and wings skinned in elektron, but the keel suffered from stress failures and never reached production.<ref name="Pearce" >{{cite web |last=Pearce |first=William |title=Planet Satellite Light Aircraft |date=June 2021 |website=Old Machine Press |url=https://oldmachinepress.com/2021/06/ |access-date=1 January 2023}}</ref>

The bodywork of certain racing cars utilized elektron, including the [[Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR]] that [[1955 Le Mans disaster|infamously crashed]] in the [[1955 24 Hours of Le Mans|1955 Le Mans race]], highlighting its flammability.<ref>Spurring, Quentin (2011). ''Le Mans 1949-59''. Sherborne, Dorset: Evro Publishing {{ISBN|9781844255375}}, p. 217.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of alloys]]
* [[Magnesium Elektron]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.magnesium-elektron.com/ Website of Magnesium Elektron Ltd.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515070904/http://www.magnesium-elektron.com/ |date=15 May 2021 }}
* [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1952/1952%20-%202359.html "ZTi"] a 1952 ''Flight'' advertisement for Magnesium Elektron's new alloy
* ASTM International standards ??

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elektron (Alloy)}}
[[Category:Magnesium alloys]]
[[Category:Aluminium–magnesium alloys]]