Despite being cheap and plentiful, of late magnesium has taken on an aura of a premium, hi-tech commodity for its use in areas where shaving weight is a must. High profile examples include automotive and aerospace applications. Expensive laptops too, even bikes. On its own, magnesium is a poor choice as it’s soft and suffers from poor resistance to corrosion. To the rescue, metallurgists have been busy alloying it with a dozen different metals and after much a-tinkering with the recipes have come up with a number of really good alloys that provide the ultimate in lightweight, stiffness and the all important resistance to corrosion parameters.

Handling this ampule is a treat. Feels almost empty even though you can clearly see it’s half filled with metal!