magnesium in GT's interior; is this dangerous?

[Lynn Larsen]

Guys,

I am editing a book targeted at the junior high level that, believe it or not, is about the Ford GTs (40s and new GT.) As I was reading along, I came upon some comments about the use of magnesium in the interior of the new GT. I did a google on "Ford GT" and magnesium, and, sure enough, it is in there.

Now is it just me or does the use of a flammable metal like magnesium in the interior of a car seem unsafe? Or, have the developed a technique of reducing this danger with the particular castings they are using??

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Lynn,
A large number of cars have mag in the interior. Many GM and other cars have magnesium bars under the instrument panel for reinforcement. The flammibilty is not an issue as the heat required to start the mag on fire is so high that you have other serious issues by the time the mag starts to blaze!

Rick

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

Hi Lynn -

I am certainly no expert, but I would have thought that any magnesium used would be in a thickish section/casting and as such would require a lot of heat before it achieved a sustainable ignition. The magnesium ribbon we used to ignite at school was only about 0.25" wide and a few thou thick. With the heat required to ignite it, an occupant would probably be long gone before it caught fire. (not a pleasant thought though).

With that in mind though, my brother-in-law was a fire fighter and at his passing out parade, they demonstrated a 'magnesium fire' using a 2KG bundle of magnesium ribbon, ignited whilst wapped in newspaper. The resulting heat given off when they hit it with a water hose could be felt by those viewing some 30 meters away!!

see also - Magnesium Fire

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

'Great minds think alike' -

or is it

'Fools never part' -

 

[Malcolm]

Didn't they make whole 917 chassis out of magnesium but not tell the drivers?

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Honda did a F1 monocoque out of Mag that crashed and burned at the French GP circa 1968 I recall. It did not do the drivers health any good.........Jo Schlesser was unable to be saved due to the full fuel tank and thin sheet magnesium going up rather quickly.

Rick

 

[Lynn Larsen]

When I initially read the bit, I thought the writer might have just gotten it wrong. So, I did a quick google and found this article SAE: 2005 Ford GT Magnesium Instrument Panel Cross Car Beam

This article also contains this link -> SAE 2005 World Congress & Exhibition, April 2005, Detroit, MI, USA, Session: Magnesium Technologies (Part 1 & 2 of 4)

Lynn

 

[Phil]

Lynn
I can tell you that I have welded mny magnesium parts with no problem, as long as any dust or chips from the prep are thoroghly removed. As was mentioned above it is the thin sections and small pieces that ignite. I can say that it has a peculiar greenish glow when being welded, and sounds different under the arc than aluminum, but I never had a problem. Most of the parts were non replaceable pieces such as uprights and wheels. If it does go up the only thing to do is walk away and watch as there probably is no way to extinguish it easily.
Cheers
Phil

 

[Dalton Veitch]

Lynn,
I am no expert either, but I'm sure that the term "magnesium" when applied to car parts such as mag. wheels does not mean pure magnesium. The magnesium ribbon is nearly pure magnesium, while other manufactured items are alloys of magnesium and other metals. They will still exhibit some of the characteristics of magnesium, but not to the same degree as pure magnesium.

Dalton

 

[Rob]

Just to throw out another resource for info on this topic:

http://www.intlmag.org/

 

[Neil]

The interior of the GT is a magnesium alloy - not pure magnesium. Not dangerous.

 

[MAD IN NC]

The interior of the GT is a magnesium alloy - not pure magnesium. Not dangerous.

Agreed, but easy to scratch......