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Published July 8, 2025 | Version v1
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Towards increased strength and retained ductility of Zn–Mg-(Ag) materials for medical devices by adopting powder metallurgy processing routes

Authors/Creators

  • 1. University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Faculty of Chemical Technology, Department of Metals and Corrosion Engineering
  • 2. Department of Microstructure Physics and Alloy Design, Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien GmbH
  • 3. University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
  • 4. ROR icon Institute of Metals and Technology
  • 5. Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Faculty of Materials Science and Technology in Trnava
  • 6. Institute of Materials and Machine Mechanics, Slovak Academy of Sciences
  • 7. FZU – Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Description

The development of bioabsorbable zinc-based alloys with tailored mechanical properties and biocompatibility holds great promise for advancing medical implant technology. In this study, Zn–Mg and Zn–Mg–Ag alloys were synthesized using mechanical alloying (MA) followed by extrusion to achieve a combination of enhanced strength, ductility, and corrosion resistance. MA for 4 h produced ultrafine-grained powders incorporating Mg2Zn11 intermetallic phases and oxide particles, which contributed to microstructure stabilization during subsequent processing. Extrusion consolidated these powders into dense materials with a uniform grain size of ∼700 nm, exhibiting ultimate tensile strengths up to 435 MPa and elongation to fracture of ∼12 %, representing a significant improvement over conventional processing methods. The addition of silver further enhanced the antibacterial properties, demonstrating notable efficacy against Staphylococcus epidermidis, while maintaining non-cytotoxic behavior in vitro. Corrosion rates remained low, with uniform surface degradation and the formation of protective corrosion layers. This work highlights the efficacy of combining powder metallurgy techniques to bioabsorbable zinc-based alloys with exceptional mechanical performance, corrosion behavior and in vitro cytocompatibility, providing a pathway for next-generation biodegradable medical devices.

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Additional details

Related works

Is supplemented by
Preprint: 10.5281/zenodo.15064663 (DOI)
Dataset: 10.5281/zenodo.15056574 (DOI)

Funding

European Union
Operational Programme Johanes Amos Comenius, call Excellent Research, co funded by the European Union, administered by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004634
The Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
Development of advanced bioabsorbable Zn-based materials by powder metallurgy techniques. N2-0182
The Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
Physics and Chemistry of Metals P2 0132
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Baptiste Gault's Leibniz Award
Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic
Vega 1/0531/22
Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic
Cost action CA22147 (EU4MOFs)