The lightest structural metal in commercial use — about a third the density of steel and two-thirds the density of aluminum. Aluminum and zinc give it the strength to be a real material rather than a curiosity. The metal laptop chassis, camera bodies, and racing-bike sprockets are made of, when the weight budget is the main constraint and corrosion resistance can be solved by coating.
Wrought Mg-Al-Zn alloy (3% Al, 1% Zn, 0.4% Mn nominal per ASTM B90). HCP structure with limited room-temperature ductility — sheet typically warm-formed at 200–300 °C. Density 1.77 g/cm³. Tensile 260 MPa, yield 200 MPa annealed. Galvanic-corrosion vulnerable when in contact with most other metals; usually anodized (Mg-style chemical conversion) or epoxy-coated for service.
Principled BSDF defaults derived from the sphere metallic finish. Reasonable seed for Blender, Substance, Keyshot, Rhino — tune per material. Or grab the whole library at once: ForMaterials library →
# finish: metallic albedo #a0a4a8 metallic 1.00 roughness 0.25 ior 1.45 transmission 0.00 clearcoat 0.00 sheen 0.00 anisotropic 0.00
{
"albedo": "#a0a4a8",
"metallic": 1.0,
"roughness": 0.25,
"ior": 1.45,
"transmission": 0.0,
"clearcoat": 0.0,
"sheen": 0.0,
"anisotropic": 0.0
}
# Blender 4.x — Principled BSDF
# Magnesium AZ31B · finish: metallic
import bpy
mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name="mat_magnesium_az31b")
mat.use_nodes = True
bsdf = mat.node_tree.nodes["Principled BSDF"]
bsdf.inputs["Base Color"].default_value = (0.3515, 0.3712, 0.3916, 1.0)
bsdf.inputs["Metallic"].default_value = 1.000
bsdf.inputs["Roughness"].default_value = 0.250
bsdf.inputs["IOR"].default_value = 1.450
bsdf.inputs["Transmission Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Coat Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Sheen Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Anisotropic"].default_value = 0.000
# KeyShot 11+ — lux Python API, Generic material
# Magnesium AZ31B · finish: metallic
# Run from Window → Scripting Console
import lux
mat = lux.createMaterial(name="mat_magnesium_az31b", materialType="Generic")
mat.setProperty("diffuse", (160, 164, 168)) # 8-bit sRGB
mat.setProperty("metallic", 1.000)
mat.setProperty("roughness", 0.250)
mat.setProperty("indexOfRefraction", 1.450)
mat.setProperty("transparency", 0.000)
mat.setProperty("coatingWeight", 0.000)
{
"_format": "Substance Designer / Painter \u2014 pbrMetalRough constants",
"_about": "Magnesium AZ31B \u00b7 finish: metallic",
"baseColor": {
"r": 0.3515,
"g": 0.3712,
"b": 0.3916
},
"metallic": 1.0,
"roughness": 0.25,
"ior": 1.45,
"opacity": 1.0,
"anisotropyLevel": 0.0,
"_notes": "Channels listed are the standard Substance pbrMetalRough output. Drop into a Uniform Color node per channel, or as the constant input on a layered stack."
}{
"asset": {
"version": "2.0",
"generator": "ForMatter"
},
"materials": [
{
"name": "mat_magnesium_az31b",
"pbrMetallicRoughness": {
"baseColorFactor": [
0.3515,
0.3712,
0.3916,
1.0
],
"metallicFactor": 1.0,
"roughnessFactor": 0.25
},
"extensions": {
"KHR_materials_ior": {
"ior": 1.45
}
}
}
]
}# USD Preview Surface — UsdShade.MaterialLook prim attributes
# Magnesium AZ31B · finish: metallic
def Material "mat_magnesium_az31b" {
token outputs:surface.connect = </mat_magnesium_az31b/PreviewSurface.outputs:surface>
def Shader "PreviewSurface" {
uniform token info:id = "UsdPreviewSurface"
color3f inputs:diffuseColor = (0.3515, 0.3712, 0.3916)
float inputs:metallic = 1.000
float inputs:roughness = 0.250
float inputs:ior = 1.450
float inputs:opacity = 1.000
float inputs:clearcoat = 0.000
token outputs:surface
}
}
WARNING: magnesium chip-fire risk is real and the bench safety briefing must come before the first cut. Once cut, magnesium is one of the easiest metals to mill — fastest speeds, lightest chip loads. Used for its strength-to-weight ratio in lightweight cases (older laptop chassis, camera bodies).
Machinery's Handbook 30th ed., 'Magnesium Alloys Machining'; OSHA combustible-dust standard for swarf handling.
→ try this material in swarfASM Handbook Vol. 2: Magnesium Alloys; OSHA combustible-dust standard for magnesium swarf handling.
House vocabulary — terms ForMatter uses with intent.
Materials and processes for people who design and make things.
A local-first library of materials, processes, applications, and finishes — equal weight, citable everywhere, with cost-over-volume curves, trade-off profiles, equipment-tier filters, and second-life paths layered onto the data so a student can move from "what is this" toward "what's actually buildable here, now, by me." Part of the renato.design ecosystem — sibling of Plenum, Specimen, Ingenue, gesture, graf, and the Renato Rhino plug-ins. Form and matter, inseparable.
Half of teaching materials is teaching how the material is made into the thing. The standard subscription library was always light on that half. The wedge here isn't better samples or a prettier interface — it's treating Process as a peer entity, not a footnote.
Conway's Material World on raw materials, Lefteri's Making It on processes, Forty's Concrete and Culture, Sparke's Design in Context, Bürdek's Design: History, Theory and Practice of Product Design, Schröpfer's Material Design on materials in architecture, Winchester's The Perfectionists on tolerance, Minshall's Your Life Is Manufactured on the global supply chain, von Busch's Making Trouble on material activism, Were's How Materials Matter, Hegger / Drexler / Zeumer's Basics Materials, Untracht and McCreight on metalsmithing, USDA Forest Products Lab on woods, GIA on gemstones, Schott / CoorsTek / Toray / Owens Corning datasheets, MakeItFrom for verifiable property numbers, ASM Handbook, ISO standards. Museum holdings draw from the Met, MAD, V&A, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Newark Museum of Art, British Museum, Heard Museum, Smithsonian NMAI, Eiteljorg Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, and Grand Rapids Art Museum — collection-record permalinks only, designer overview pages and exhibition listings excluded. Voice blocks now ride on every entry kind — material, process, application, and finish — and include Ruskin on iron, Anni Albers on twining, Greg Lynn on the shred-and-teeth NURBS lineage, Pugin on the metal that won't be hammered, Barthes / Yanagi / Benjamin channeled within their philosophy; Sparke, Bürdek, Forty, Conway, Schröpfer, Minshall, von Busch, Lefteri, Pat Pruitt, Mary Lee Hu, Tom Joyce, Albert Paley, and the rest of the contemporary makers quoted verbatim with citation. All cited.
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