Biodegradation, Antibacterial Performance, and Cytocompatibility of a Novel ZK30-Cu-Mn Biomedical Alloy Produced by Selective Laser Melting

Bin Xie; Ming-Chun Zhao; Rong Xu; Ying-Chao Zhao; Dengfeng Yin; Chengde Gao; Andrej Atrens

doi:10.18063/ijb.v7i1.300

Biodegradation, Antibacterial Performance, and Cytocompatibility of a Novel ZK30-Cu-Mn Biomedical Alloy Produced by Selective Laser Melting

Int J Bioprint. 2020 Oct 30;7(1):300. doi: 10.18063/ijb.v7i1.300. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Bin Xie¹, Ming-Chun Zhao¹, Rong Xu¹, Ying-Chao Zhao¹, Dengfeng Yin¹, Chengde Gao¹, Andrej Atrens²

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P.R. China.
² School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.

Abstract

In the present study, an antibacterial biomedical magnesium (Mg) alloy with a low biodegradation rate was designed, and ZK30-0.2Cu-xMn (x = 0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, and 1.6 wt%) was produced by selective laser melting, which is a widely applied laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing technology. Alloying with Mn evidently influenced the grain size, hardness, and biodegradation behavior. On the other hand, increasing Mn content to 0.8 wt% resulted in a decrease of biodegradation rate which is attributed to the decreased grain size and relatively protective surface layer of manganese oxide. Higher Mn contents increased the biodegradation rate attributed to the presence of the Mn-rich particles. Taken together, ZK30-0.2Cu-0.8Mn exhibited the lowest biodegradation rate, strong antibacterial performance, and good cytocompatibility.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity; Biodegradation; Grain refinement; Magnesium alloy; Selective laser melting.