Laser Powder Bed Fusion Applied to a New Biodegradable Mg-Zn-Zr-Ca Alloy

The aim of the present paper is to apply the laser powder bed fusion process to a new biodegradable Mg-Zn-Zr-Ca alloy powder prepared via a mechanical alloying method from powder pure components. This additive manufacturing method is expected to allow for the obtaining of high biomechanical and biochemical performance. Various processing parameters for laser powder bed fusion are tested, with a special focus on laser energy density—E [J/mm3]—which is calculated for all experiment variants, and which represents an important processing parameter, dependent upon all the rest. The goal of all the trials is to find the most efficient schema for the production of small biodegradable parts for the medical domain, meaning the selection of optimal processing parameters. An important observation is that the most robust and homogeneous samples without cracks are obtained for lower values of the E, around 100 J/mm3. Thus, the most performant samples are analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and by compression mechanical test

Microstructure Evolution during Mechanical Alloying of a Biodegradable Magnesium Alloy

The aim of the present work was to apply a mechanical alloying method to obtain a Mg-10Zn-0.5Zr-0.8Ca powder-alloy with morphological and dimensional characteristics, proper for subsequent selective laser melting (SLM) processing. The mechanical alloying process was applied at different values of the milling time. Thus, the evolution of the main morphological and dimensional characteristics of the experimented powder-alloy could be studied. The conclusion of this study is that mechanical alloying possesses good potential to obtain powder-alloy with almost rounded morphology and fine dimensions, proper for further additive manufacturing procedures such as selective laser melting

Microstructure Evolution during Mechanical Alloying of a Biodegradable Magnesium Alloy

The aim of the present work was to apply a mechanical alloying method to obtain a Mg-10Zn-0.5Zr-0.8Ca powder-alloy with morphological and dimensional characteristics, proper for subsequent selective laser melting (SLM) processing. The mechanical alloying process was applied at different values of the milling time. Thus, the evolution of the main morphological and dimensional characteristics of the experimented powder-alloy could be studied. The conclusion of this study is that mechanical alloying possesses good potential to obtain powder-alloy with almost rounded morphology and fine dimensions, proper for further additive manufacturing procedures such as selective laser melting