Magnesium Alloy Corrosion Resistance Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- Filing has cooled since 2018. the peak year (77 filings) sits early in the window, with the most recent full year down to a fraction of that — a maturing rather than a growing claim space.
- Coating and alloying dominate almost equally. C23C (surface deposition) and C22C (alloys) each account for roughly half of all records, meaning the field splits cleanly between two independent design routes.
- China receives more filings than Japan, the US and Europe combined. 674 of 1,916 records route through the Chinese office, ahead of Japan (282), the US (264) and the EPO (227).
Filing growth compares 2021 (53 records) with 2024 (60) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 1,916 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Magnesium alloys corrode faster than almost any other structural metal, and the patent record in this space is built around slowing that process without giving up the weight advantage that makes magnesium attractive in the first place. The search underlying this page pulls records that combine magnesium or wrought-magnesium alloy compositions with explicit corrosion-resistance language — passivation, galvanic corrosion mitigation, corrosion-resistant alloy claims — inside the IPC classes that cover alloying (C22C), corrosion and metal removal (C23F) and surface coating (C23C22).
The dataset spans 1,916 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026, filed across offices in China, Japan, the United States, Europe, South Korea and through the PCT. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend line will read lower than the true filing volume once those applications finish publishing.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,916-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings ran at 75 in 2017 and peaked at 77 the following year. By the 2022 midpoint the count had settled at 62, and the trend line has continued downward since, reaching 10 in the most recent (partial) year — read that last point as understated given publication lag, not as a cliff.
IPC subclass composition
Surface coating (C23C) and alloy composition (C22C) each cover more than half of all records, non-ferrous treatment (C22F) forms a substantial second tier, and casting, electroplating, sterilising-grade and coating-process classes make up smaller, more specialised slices — sterilising (A61L) points to the biomedical-implant branch of this field specifically.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,916 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Magnesium Alloy Corrosion Resistance with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about magnesium alloy corrosion resistance and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
US10947609B2 — Magnesium alloy having excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance and method for manufacturing the same
The present invention is to provide a magnesium alloy comprising 0.001 parts by weight to 1.0 parts by weight of scandium and the balance of magnesium and unavoidable impurities, based on 100 parts by weight of a magnesium alloy, wherein the magnesium alloy has increased Fe solubility and reduced corrosion while providing excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, and a method for producing the same. The magnesium alloy of the present invention can improve the corrosion resistance of the magnesium alloy by using scandium which can simultaneously prevent from microgalvanic corrosion between a substrate and impurities without deteriorating mechanical properties and improve the pFiled by Korea Institute of Materials Science; granted 2021-03-16.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5073207A | Process for obtaining magnesium alloys by spray deposition | 121 |
| 2 | US4134759A | Light metal matrix composite materials reinforced with silicon carbide fibers | 112 |
| 3 | US4997622A | High mechanical strength magnesium alloys and process for obtaining these alloys by rapid solidification | 111 |
| 4 | US20080031765A1 | Magnesium alloy and the respective manufacturing method | 98 |
| 5 | US5494538A | Magnesium alloy for hydrogen production | 97 |
| 6 | JP2008069418A | High strength magnesium alloy with excellent corrosion resistance | 74 |
| 7 | US5143562A | Broadly applicable phosphate conversion coating composition and process | 74 |
| 8 | US6139651A | Magnesium alloy for high temperature applications | 67 |
| 9 | EP1857570A2 | Method for forming a nickel-based layered structure on a magnesium alloy substrate, a surface-treated magnesi… | 63 |
| 10 | JP2000080309A | Corrosion resistant paint and corrosion resistant steel material coated with same | 63 |
Citation counts accumulate over time, so older filings dominate this list; treat it as a map of foundational influence rather than current state of the art.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data implies for filing strategy
Four read-outs from the trend, the IPC split and the citation table that matter for anyone deciding where to file next.
The claim space is consolidating, not growing
Volume peaked in 2018 and has fallen through the 2022 midpoint to a fraction of that by the most recent year. Combined with publication lag, this looks like a field where the foundational compositions are largely staked out and activity has shifted toward incremental process and coating variants.
Two routes carry almost all the claim density
Surface coating and bulk alloy composition each cover roughly half of all records, with non-ferrous treatment (C22F) a distant third. A new filing has to clear one or both of these before it can differentiate on anything else.
China is the primary filing office by volume
China receives more than a third of all records in this dataset, more than Japan, the US and the EPO combined, which points to where enforcement and freedom-to-operate checks matter most for anyone commercialising in this space.
Cross-filing is concentrated among a few automotive-linked players
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset at all, and the strongest links run between a surface-treatment specialist and two Japanese automakers — a signal that corrosion-resistant magnesium is being co-developed for vehicle body and component applications rather than filed independently.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to magnesium alloy corrosion resistance, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Nihon Parkerizing Co., Ltd. | Toyota Motor Corporation | 12 |
| Nihon Parkerizing Co., Ltd. | Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. | 11 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. | 11 |
| Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. | United Materials Corporation | 10 |
| POSCO | Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST) | 9 |
| Nisshin Steel Co., Ltd. | Nippon Paint Surf Chemicals Co., Ltd. | 7 |
| Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences | Sichuan Mgmet Medical Devices Co., Ltd. | 7 |
| Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. | OISHI YUKIHIRO | 5 |
The strongest co-assignee pairs all sit inside one Japanese automotive-and-surface-treatment cluster, suggesting joint development programmes rather than arm's-length licensing.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
Recent-year momentum across the assignees with the deepest historical filing records has dropped to zero, which changes how a newcomer should read the leaderboard.
Historical leaders have gone quiet
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Nihon Parkerizing, Toyota, Nisshin Steel, POSCO and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology all show zero filings in the most recent year despite deep historical positions. That is consistent with publication lag but also with a field where the earlier leaders have already secured their core claims.
A tight automotive-surface-treatment cluster
The three strongest co-assignee pairs all connect a surface-treatment specialist with Japanese automakers, pointing to joint programmes aimed at vehicle-grade corrosion protection rather than standalone materials science.
A long tail behind a modest set of repeat filers
With citation leadership sitting on decades-old foundational patents and current-year momentum flat across the historical leaders, the ranking behind the top tier is a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants — universities, materials institutes and specialty manufacturers rather than repeat corporate filers.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Nihon Parkerizing Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | 0 | — |
| Nisshin Steel Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| POSCO | 0 | — |
| Korea Institute of Industrial Technology | 0 | — |
| Biotronik AG | 0 | — |
| Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with two dominant claim routes and a cooling filing rate — the next steps are about testing your own composition or coating against that map.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the C22C/C23C core
Any new composition or coating claim should be screened against the alloy and surface-coating subclasses first, since together they hold more than half of all records in this landscape.
Explore Eureka's FTO workflowsTrack the Chinese filing office specifically
With 674 of 1,916 records routed through China, monitoring new publications there gives the earliest read on emerging competitive activity.
Set up Eureka monitoringLook past the citation leaders
The most-cited records are decades old; use Patsnap Eureka to pull the newest filings inside the under-claimed sub-areas rather than relying on citation rank alone.
Search Eureka by IPC and dateCommon questions about this landscape
The dataset's historical leaders include Japanese automotive and surface-treatment specialists such as Toyota and Nihon Parkerizing, alongside Korean and Chinese materials institutes. That said, several of the deepest historical filers show zero filings in the most recent year in this dataset, so raw historical count is not the same as current activity. Anyone assessing the field should weight recent-year filings and citation influence separately rather than reading one ranking alone.
Filing volume peaked in 2018 at 77 records and has declined fairly steadily since, sitting well below that peak by the most recent full year. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the very last year or two in any such trend always understates true activity. Even accounting for that lag, the multi-year direction through the 2022 midpoint is flat-to-declining rather than growing.
Coating-based approaches, classified under C23C, apply a protective surface layer — conversion coatings, anodic oxides or deposited films — after the base alloy is cast or formed. Alloy-based approaches, classified under C22C, change the bulk composition itself, typically through rare-earth or trace-element additions, to make the metal intrinsically more resistant to galvanic and general corrosion. This dataset shows both routes at almost equal filing volume, meaning a new entrant genuinely has to choose which route to build a claim on rather than defaulting to one.
US10947609B2, assigned to the Korea Institute of Materials Science, claims a magnesium alloy containing a small weight fraction of scandium — between 0.001 and 1.0 parts per 100 parts of alloy — that increases iron solubility and reduces microgalvanic corrosion between the substrate and impurities. It is a composition claim rather than a coating or process claim, so it sits inside the C22C alloy-composition branch of this landscape. Anyone formulating a scandium-containing magnesium alloy for corrosion resistance should review this claim's compositional ranges specifically before finalising a formulation.
Relative to the dense C23C and C22C core, this dataset shows fewer records around rare-earth micro-alloying for galvanic control, biodegradable implant-grade passivation coatings, and anodic oxide engineering specifically for wrought (rather than cast) alloys. These sub-areas sit adjacent to well-claimed territory rather than being entirely open, so a new filing there should still expect to design around existing composition and coating claims. A deeper claim-chart comparison against the specific IPC subclasses is the reliable way to confirm how open any one sub-area actually is.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.