Strengthening of a biodegradable Mg–Zn–Ca alloy ZX50 after processing by HPT and heat treatment

This study investigates a biodegradable Mg–5Zn–0.3Ca alloy (ZX50) during HPT-processing and long-term heat treatments, the latter with respect to the evolution of intermetallic precipitates and vacancy clusters. Both the precipitates as well as the vacancy clusters achieve strength increases as the Zn atoms may act as potential trapping sites not only for HPT-induced dislocations but also vacancies. So far, overall increases of strength of up to 200% have been reached while keeping the Young’s modulus unchanged, thus representing an attractive improvement of mechanical properties for the actual alloy.