Labtecpower wrote:an alloy consisting of magnesium and aluminium is called magnalium.
(with your explosive interests you should know, DYI, altough I doubt its functionality in HE's)
I'm not sure about the Silicon yet... I think it has something to do with the hardness and strength.
this pipe can consist of anything from 0,2%Mg-1,5%Mg and 0,2Si-1.5%Si
with the balance being Al.
Silicon is added to Aluminum alloys to increase hardness and improve machining characteristics. I know Mg also increases the hardness of Al alloys, but I think the purpose of Mg in this alloy is more to modify grain structure of the material...
in the foundry world we call a Al/Mg alloy Almag, it requires special care since it can easily catch fire (no surprise there )