A state-of-the-art review on recent advances in the fabrication and characteristics of magnesium-based alloys in biomedical applications

Magnesium(Mg)and its alloys have recently gained increasing attention in the biomedical field as promising biodegradable materials with harmless degradation products.Magnesium-based alloys have a wide range of biomedical applications because of their outstanding biocompatibility and unique mechanical properties.Widespread use of Mg-based biomedical devices eliminates the need for post-healing biomaterial removal surgery and minimizes the negative consequences of the implantation of permanent biomaterials,including stress shielding and undesired metal ion release in the body.This paper provides a literature review on the properties and manufacturing methods of Mgbased alloys for biomedical applications,including orthopedic implants,cardiovascular applications,surgical wires and staplers,and antitumor activities.Each application of Mg-based biomaterials is investigated from a biological perspective,including matching functional properties,biocompatibility,host tissue responses,and anti-microbial strategies,along with potential additive manufacturing technologies for these applications.Finally,an outlook is presented to provide recommendations for Mg-based biomaterials in the future.

Strong, lightweight, and highly conductive CNT/Au/Cu wires from sputtering and electroplating methods

In this study, we present a 2-step deposition method via sputtering and electroplating that uses carbon nanotube(CNT) wires synthesized from a wet-spinning technique to produce high-performance CNT/Au/Cu composite wires. After the Au sputtering pre-treatment, the deposition of Cu on the CNT wires was found to be much more homogeneous due to improved wettability and reactivity of the wire surface. At different electrodeposition time, the mechanical strength of the CNT/Au/Cu composite wires could be as high as 0.74 GPa(~2 times stronger than metal wires) while their electrical conductivity could reach 4.65 × 10~5 S/cm(~80% of that for copper). More importantly, the CNT/Au/Cu composite wires with high CNT volume fraction are expected to be lightweight(up to 42% lower than Cu mass density), suggesting that our high-performance composite wires are a promising candidate to substitute conventional heavy metal wires in the future applications.

High-performance carbon fiber/gold/copper composite wires for lightweight electrical cables

In this study,we synthesized high-performance Carbon Fiber/Gold/Copper(CF/Au/Cu)composite wires by using a 2-step deposition method via sputtering and electrodeposition.After Au was sputtered on PANbased CFs as a pre-treatment,the wettability and surface reactivity of the CFs were improved,resulting in a homogeneous deposition of Cu on their surface.At different Cu electrodeposition time,the resulting CF/Au/Cu composite wires could possess a high strength of up to 3.27 GPa(~10 times stronger than copper wires)while their electrical conductivity could be as high as 4.4×10^5 S/cm(~75%of that for copper).More importantly,since the composite wires were lightweight(up to 70%lower than Cu mass density),they are a promising candidate to substitute conventional heavy metal wires in the future electrical applications.