Magnesium Elektron
Magnesium Elektron Ltd (MEL or the Mag) is a British materials manufacturer which produces magnesium and zirconium metals and compounds. Since 2018 it has traded as Luxfer MEL Technologies, following a series of mergers and acquisitions. It is still based in Manchester.
History
[edit | edit source]The company was founded in 1934, as the British Magnesium (Elektronmetal) Ltd. In 1935 it became Magnesium Elektron Ltd, formed as a joint venture between ICI (48%), I.G. Farbenindustrie (30%) and F.A. Hughes & Co (22%).[1] It started by producing Elektron (or Elektronmetall) under licence. Elektron was first developed in 1908 by Gustav Pistor and Wilhelm Moschel at the Bitterfeld works of Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron (CFGE or CFG), whose headquarters was in Griesheim am Main, Germany.
In 1936, the company opened a factory on Lumns Lane at Clifton Junction, to the north west of Manchester, to produce magnesium metal. A second plant near Burnley began operation in 1943.[2] During the Second World War, the company made an important contribution to the nation's war effort producing thousands of tons of magnesium metal alloys for the aircraft industry.[3][4]
During the late 1940s, the company diversified into the production of zirconium and its compounds, and was acquired by the Distillers Company in 1951.[5] Zirconium carbonate production commenced in 1956, to meet a growing demand from the paint, paper and textile industries.
In the 1950s MEL developed magnesium alloys (known collectively as magnox) with non-oxidising properties for use in the cladding of fuel rods for the UK's magnox nuclear power stations.[6][7] The production of hafnium metal for use in Britain's nuclear submarines began in 1958.
In 1961, Magnesium Elektron became a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Aluminium Company. In 1996, the company was sold to the Luxfer Group.[1] In 2018 it was recombined with MEL Chemicals to become Luxfer MEL Technologies.[8]
References
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External links
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