Combustion of magnesium alloys in air

A modified thermal analysis procedure was used to study the heat released during the combustion of magnesium alloys in air. Magnesium and magnesium alloys were heated to 1000K under giving amounts of air and relative humidity. For the pure magnesium, the maximum enthalpy release occurred at temperature of 908.5K. For the Mg-xCa alloys, increasing the Ca content, x from 1 to 3%, lifted the peak temperature from 918 to 924K. For the Mg-5Ca alloy, the heated cake showed ignition-proof up to 1000K. The peak temperature of the as-received AZ series alloys decreased greatly as Al content increased; while for the solution-treated alloys, the peak temperature was significantly raised. For the solution-treated AZ91 alloys, the heated cake remained ignition-proof up to 1000K.