Preface

Magnesium is a magical element that is the lightest among other elements in context of its structural applications and it is also one of the most abundant metallic elements available on Earth. It possesses nutritional characteristics and is hence important in many biological ways for plants, animals, and humans. Its light weight (~33% lighter than aluminum) makes it a suitable candidate for a wide spectrum of engineering and biomedical applications in the context of reducing fuel consumption, mitigating global warming, and enhancing human comfort through development of prosthetics with a similar density to that of bone. The abundance of magnesium in the Earth's crust and water bodies, coupled with its nutritional characteristics, also enables magnesium to provide a sustainable solution to humans for a very long time to come. In view of its non-toxic nature, the recycling of magnesium is also easily achievable and illegal dumping will not be a health hazard.

From an engineering perspective, the transportation sector (land, air, space, and water transport), defense sector, and electronic sector can be key beneficiaries of using magnesium-based materials. From a biomedical perspective, the most promising application is related to temporary implants. The use of magnesiumbased materials as temporary implants assists in reducing patient trauma and medical costs through eliminating the need of revision surgery. From an industrial perspective, magnesium is an attractive option as it has a low melting point and easy machinability and these are instrumental in minimizing the cost of end components.

In view of the tremendous advantages associated with use of magnesium-based materials, this book was conceptualized to provide an insight into the fundamental characteristics of magnesium and the current directions pursued by researchers worldwide. Chapter 1, written by Dr. Tekumalla and Dr. Gupta, introduces the readers to magnesium-based materials and their applications. Chapter 2, written by Srinivasan Murugan, Manoj Gupta, and Nguyen Quy Bau et al., describes the synthesis of magnesium-based nanocomposites using different methodologies. The focus in this chapter is on nanocomposites due to their unique capability of exhibiting a superior combination of mechanical properties that is desired by engineers for developing high performance systems. The third chapter, written by Ramesh Kumar Subramanian, Sreearravind M., and Arun Kumar Srirangan et al., addresses the importance of severe plastic deformation in refining the microstructure and enhancing the mechanical response of magnesium-based materials. In the fourth chapter, by Dr. Jafar Albinmousa, the author describes the fatigue of magnesium-based materials including composites in a comprehensive manner. The fifth chapter, by Niranjan C A, Ramachandra Madhavarao, and Srinivas Satyanarayana et al., introduces the potential of risk-free abrasive water jet cutting technology as an alternative method for machining magnesium-based materials. The intricacies associated with water jet cutting are addressed by the authors in this chapter. The sixth chapter, by Kavian Cooke, Anas Attieh, and Abdulaziz Alhazaa et al., addresses the principles and applications of dissimilar welding and joining of magnesium alloys. This chapter highlights the importance of dissimilar welding as multi-material systems are commonly in place in both the biomedical and

engineering sectors. Finally, in the seventh chapter, by Dr. Kondo and Dr. Hiroyuki, the use of magnesium-based materials is illustrated for hydrogen storage with critical analysis related to microstructure.

Overall, the chapters included in this book address the latest trends in primary and secondary processing, properties characterization, machining, joining, and application of magnesium-based materials including nanocomposites. The information contained in this book will be of immense importance to graduate students and researchers from research-based institutions, industry, and academia.
