Magnesium alloy has great potential in the field of robotics
With the development of robots, the application of robots has expanded from the earliest industrial fields to medical and health services, space and marine exploration, military and entertainment. Robotics will not only push the manufacturing industry into a new phase, but will also usher in the rapid development of non-manufacturing automation technology.
The metal materials that can be used for robots are mainly steel, aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy, titanium alloy and so on. Since the density of steel materials is as high as 7.8g/cm3, although the moving parts of a small number of robots use titanium alloy materials (4.5g/cm3) or aluminum alloy materials (2.7g/cm3) instead of steel materials, the density of titanium alloys is still higher. High and expensive, the density of aluminum alloy is also higher than that of magnesium alloy.
Magnesium or magnesium alloy as the lightest metal structural material, its density is 2/3 of aluminum, less than 1/4 of steel. For polycarbonate composites containing 30% glass fiber, the density of magnesium does not exceed It is 10%. In addition, China's iron and aluminum resources account for only 18.7% and 2.3% of the world's total, but China's magnesium resources are the richest in the world, and the application of magnesium materials has unique advantages in resources. Therefore, magnesium and magnesium alloy materials have significant advantages in weight reduction, robot maneuverability and endurance because of their light weight and high specific strength. They are one of the most ideal materials for manufacturing robots.
The lightweight of robotic materials can greatly increase its maneuverability, increase its work efficiency, and highlight the advantages of robots in reducing motion inertia, increasing operating speed and motion accuracy. Japan's Honda's 3rd generation ASIMO is made of light alloy, and its outer casing is made of magnesium alloy, which makes the robot's self-importance greatly reduced, and the walking speed is increased from 1.6km/h to 2.5km/h. The maximum running speed reached 3km/h.
Although magnesium alloy materials have been initially applied in robots, one of the important bottlenecks restricting the application of magnesium alloy materials in the field of robot components is that the strength and toughness of existing grades of magnesium alloys are still lower than those of steel and aluminum alloys. There is still a gap in the requirements for the performance of robot materials, and it is impossible to completely replace steel, aluminum alloy and other materials. Therefore, the development of high-performance magnesium alloys for the manufacture of robot components and their forming and processing technologies are of great significance for reducing the quality of robot moving parts, improving the accuracy of motion, and achieving energy saving.
In October 2015, Beijing University of Technology launched the“Great Scientific Research Promotion Plan–Intelligent Robot”for the current research status and development prospects of the robot field. In addition to focusing on the key technologies of intelligent robots, key components, R&D, and integration applications, the program is characterized by the emphasis on“lightweight materials for robots represented by magnesium alloy materials. key technology research". The“Large Scientific Research Promotion Plan”relies on the advantages of R&D team and R&D platform in the direction of light magnesium alloy materials for more than ten years in the School of Materials Science of Beijing University of Technology, with high-performance magnesium such as Mg-Zn-Er and Mg-Gd-Er-Zr. Based on the research results of alloy material design, fine structure control, plastic forming mechanism, etc., aiming at the demand for high value-added medical robots and housekeeping robots in lightweight materials, aiming at new high-strength and high-toughness magnesium alloy materials, develop high performance. Magnesium alloy parts for home service robots such as medical/housekeeping, focusing on the weight reduction of moving parts such as robot arms, and gradually realizing the overall weight reduction of home service robots.
Under the background of China's manufacturing industry facing industrial upgrading and aging society transformation, the demand for traditional industrial robots and new domestic service robots will continue to rise in the next decade or even decades, and the application potential of the robot market is very significant. The application of light alloy materials represented by magnesium alloys on robots has the advantages of significantly improving the maneuverability of robots, reducing energy consumption, and improving standby time. It is one of the important directions for robot research and development.