The effects of soft-contact electromagnetic casting(EMC)on the phase constitution,microstructure,mechanical property,and corrosion resistance of AZ61 magnesium alloy were investigated by comparing with the die cast ingot.Results show that the ingots made by different methods have the same phase constitution.The soft-contact EMC ingots have more fine and uniform grain structure,which improves the mechanical property of magnesium alloys.The ultimate tensile strength and elongation of soft-contact EMC specimens increase by about 30% and 27%,respectively.Moreover the fracture morphologies of soft-contact EMC specimens have more characters of gliding fracture.The potentiodynamic polarization indicates that the soft-contact EMC ingots have much better corrosion resisting property than the die cast ones because the better microstructure of soft-contact EMC improves the corrosion potential and decreases the corrosion current density.