Novel zinc alloy castings for medical implants

There have been many studies of biodegradable metals, mainly involving magnesium and iron, with new studies of zinc. Zinc being an essential element of the human body and biocompatible, this makes it a potential candidate for a biodegradable metal. However, zinc is brittle and has low mechanical properties, but it excels in corrosion resistance. Therefor the focus of this research is to experiment with different compositions of magnesium and calcium, to see how they affect the characteristics of zinc. With the success of the characterisation, it will lead on to using zinc alloys in 3D printing for medical implants.