Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Additive Manufacturing Of Magnesium Alloys, Rakeshkumar Karunakaran, Sam Ortgies, Ali Tamayol, Florin Bobaru, Michael P. Sealy

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Magnesium alloys are a promising new class of degradable biomaterials that have a similar stiffness to bone, which minimizes the harmful effects of stress shielding. Use of biodegradable magnesium implants eliminates the need for a second surgery for repair or removal. There is a growing interest to capitalize on additive manufacturing's unique design capabilities to advance the frontiers of medicine. However, magnesium alloys are difficult to 3D print due to the high chemical reactivity that poses a combustion risk. Furthermore, the low vaporization temperature of magnesium and common biocompatible alloying elements further increases the difficulty to print fully dense structures …