ALLITE Inc. and Xi’an Jiaotong University are coming together to collaborate on magnesium alloy research. The 5-year, multi-million-dollar partnership will focus on advancing ALLITE’s proprietary Super Magnesium™ alloys.
“ALLITE Inc. is very pleased to announce this partnership with the professors at Xi’an Jiaotong University,” said Bruno Maier, president of ALLITE Inc. “The wealth of knowledge that our combined teams have, coupled with the incredible facilities at Xi’an Jiaotong University will bring new light and numerous benefits to the work done here at ALLITE. We look forward to what our shared efforts will bring to industries and organizations around the globe.”
In development since 2006, the Super Magnesium alloy was originally only authorized for use in classified defense and aerospace applications. The alloy has now been available to a variety of industries and applications. According to ALLITE, the alloy weighs 30% less than aluminum by volume and is both stiffer and stronger pound for pound. As such it is said to have potential in applications where weight, performance, and efficiency are critical, particularly those where components need to be strong and ductile and require specific thermal or electrical properties.
ALLITE’s team of engineers, chemists, and metallurgists have been working with distinguished material science organizations and institutions to develop new innovations and capabilities using the alloy — particularly for use the in consumer electronics, lightweight electric vehicle, outdoor sport, and other markets. For example, the team worked with Weis to developed a unique concept bike using the alloy in 2019.
The Xi’an Jiaotong University team is comprised of experts with extensive experience — with backgrounds at the National Institute for Materials Science, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and at companies like Exxon Mobil and General Electric. As part of this new agreement, the Xi’an Jiaotong University team will be working with ALLITE on key developments, including: ultra-high strength magnesium alloys, machine learning assisted design of high-performance magnesium alloys, high dampening magnesium alloys, and the design and production of high-performance magnesium alloys. They will also work together to research the mechanical behavior of magnesium alloys across diverse applications, such as drone technology.
“We are very glad to establish this relationship with ALLITE,” said Prof. Ding Xiangdong, Dean of the Material Science Institute leading the team at Xi’an Jiaotong University. “This collaboration leverages the strength of both parties to develop advanced magnesium alloys and processing techniques. We are confident that our partnership will have a fruitful result.”