At the Institute for Metal Forming (IMF) at Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, scientists have successfully produced cast rolled magnesium strip of the alloy WZ73 for the very first time in the world. The strips are up to 70 cm wide and extremely light, yet also stable and recyclable, which makes them particularly interesting for the lightweight construction industry. For their production, the institute has set up the prototype of a new production facility , comprising a mill for the production of twin-roll-cast starting material, an air-circulating furnace for heating and heat treatment of twin-roll-cast and rolled coils, and a quarto reversing stand for rolling the starting material to the desired thickness. Compared to the conventional process, in which thick cast slabs or blocks are rolled down to thin dimensions in several roll passes with complex intermediate annealing, this combination saves time, costs, and energy.

The development of this technology has been funded by the Saxon State Ministry of Science and Art with €5.5 million as part of the AMARETO project (Saxon Alliance for Material and Resource Efficient Technologies). The alliance includes the institutes of the technical universities of Freiberg, Chemnitz, and Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU , also based in Saxony.