The metals used for die casting mainly include zinc, copper, aluminum, magnesium, lead, tin, and lead tin alloys. Although die cast iron is rare, it is also feasible. Special die-casting metals include ZAMAK, aluminum zinc alloy, and American Aluminum Industry Association standards: AA380, AA384, AA386, AA390, and AZ91D magnesium.

The characteristics of various metals during die casting are as follows:
Zinc: The easiest metal to die cast, it is economical to manufacture small components, easy to coat, has high compressive strength and plasticity, and has a long casting life.
Aluminum: Lightweight, highly stable in size when manufacturing complex and thin-walled castings, strong in corrosion resistance, good in mechanical properties, high in thermal conductivity and conductivity, and still maintains high strength at high temperatures.
Magnesium: Easy to machine, with a high strength to weight ratio, it is the lightest commonly used die cast metal.
Copper: It has high hardness and strong corrosion resistance. Among commonly used die cast metals, it has the best mechanical properties, wear resistance, and strength similar to steel.
Lead and tin: with high density and extremely high dimensional accuracy, they can be used as special anti-corrosion components. For public health reasons, this alloy cannot be used as food processing and storage equipment. The alloy of lead tin antimony (sometimes also containing a little copper) can be used to make handmade lead letters and hot stamping in letterpress printing.
The maximum weight limits for die casting using aluminum, copper, magnesium, and zinc are 70 pounds (32 kg), 10 pounds (4.5 kg), 44 pounds (20 kg), and 75 pounds (34 kg), respectively.