Microstructural, mechanical and corrosion characterization of an as-cast Mg-3Zn-0.4Ca alloy for biomedical applications

The as-cast Mg-3Zn-0.4Ca alloy shows a great potential to be used in biomedical applications due to its composition,mechanical properties and biodegradability.Zn and Ca appear naturally in the organism accomplishing vital functions.The alloy consists of an a-Mg matrix and a eutectic composed of a-Mg4-Ca2Mg6Zn3.The eutectic product enhances the mechanical properties of the studied alloy,causing strengthening and providing superior hardness values.In this alloy,cracks initiate at the intermetallic compounds and progress through the matrix because of the open network formed by the eutectics.Attending to the corrosion results,the eutectic product presents a noble potential compared to the a-Mg phase.For this reason,the corrosion progresses preferentially through the matrix,avoiding the(α-Mg+Ca2Mg6Zri3)eutectic product,when the alloy is in direct contact to Hank's solution.

Effect of heat treatment on the mechanical and biocorrosion behaviour of two Mg-Zn-Ca alloys

The effect of heat treatment on the mechanical and biocorrosion behaviour of the Mg-1 wt.%Zn-1 wt.%Ca(ZX11)and Mg-3 wt.%Zn-0.4 wt.%Ca(ZX30)alloys was evaluated.For this purpose,three-point bending tests as well as electrochemical and immersion tests in Hank’s solution were performed on both alloys in four different thermal conditions:as-cast,solution-treated,peak-aged and over-aged.Microstructural examinations revealed that the as-cast ZX11 and ZX30 alloys exhibit a microstructure composed ofα-Mg grains separated by large Mg_(2)Ca and Ca_(2)Mg_(6)Zn_(3) particles and by large Ca_(2)Mg_(6)Zn_(3) particles,respectively.During solution treatment,the Ca_(2)Mg_(6)Zn_(3) precipitates at the grain boundaries(GBs)are fully dissolved in the ZX11 alloy,but mainly redistributed to form a more connected configuration in the ZX30 alloy,showing a poor age-hardening response.Consequently,after solution-treatment,galvanic corrosion and corrosion rate decreases in the former,but increases in the latter.The peak-aged condition displays the highest corrosion rate for both alloys,maybe due to an excessive number density of fine Ca_(2)Mg_(6)Zn_(3) particles acting as cathodic sites.However,the over-aged condition shows the lowest corrosion rate for the ZX11 alloy and a very similar one to that of the as-cast sample for the ZX30 alloy.The ZX11 alloy shows generally better biocorrosion behaviour than the ZX30 alloy to its lower content in the Ca_(2)Mg_(6)Zn_(3) phase and thus reduced galvanic corrosion.The Mg_(2)Ca phase present in the studied ZX11 alloy has been proved to exhibit an increased corrosion potential,which has been related to an observed enrichment with Zn.

Use of carbon nanotubes for strain and damage sensing of epoxy-based composites

The interest in structural health monitoring of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers using electrical methods to detect damage in structures is growing because once the material is fabricated the evaluation of strain and damage is simple and feasible.In order to obtain the conductivity,the polymer matrix must be conductive and the use of nanoreinforcement seems to be the most feasible method.In this work,the behavior of nanoreinforced polymer with carbon nanotubes(CNTs)and composites with glass and carbon fibers with nanoreinforced matrices was investigated.These composites were evaluated in tensile tests by simultaneously measuring stress,strain and resistivity.During elastic deformation,a linear increase in resistance was observed and during fracture of the composite fibers,stronger and discontinuous changes in the resistivity were observed.Among other factors,the percentage of nanotubes incorporated in the matrix turned out to be an important factor in the sensitivity of the method.