Beril Ulugun will be presenting her thesis proposal on November 10th. Please see the details below:
Date and Time: November 10 at 12PM
Location: Malone Hall 137
Advisor: Prof. Tim Weihs
Title: Magnesium and its Alloys for Biodegradable Medical Devices: Linking Microstructure, Corrosion, and Functional Performance
Abstract: Magnesium (Mg) alloys are promising materials for biodegradable medical devices because they combine mechanical strength, biocompatibility, and complete resorption in physiological environments. However, their rapid and complex corrosion behavior under biological conditions limits predictable performance and long-term reliability. This proposal aims to establish fundamental structure–property–performance relationships in Mg-based systems and develop design strategies for reliable and multifunctional biodegradable devices.
The research begins with fine Mg wires that serve as the foundation for implants such as stents and scaffolds. Detailed characterization of grain morphology, texture, and precipitate chemistry will be correlated with corrosion behavior and mechanical degradation to clarify how microstructural control governs performance. These insights will be extended to device-level studies using a custom corrosion–fatigue system capable of applying cyclic and static loads under controlled physiological conditions. The results will define how geometry, stress, and corrosion interact to determine durability and safety.
Finally, this work explores corrosion as a functional mechanism for drug delivery. By combining Mg coatings with vancomycin-loaded polycaprolactone (PCL) films, a fully resorbable antibiotic delivery system will be developed in which Mg degradation modulates both pH and drug release rate. Together, these studies integrate materials processing, in vitro simulation, and therapeutic function to advance Mg from a reactive structural metal to a controllable platform for next-generation bioresorbable implants and localized therapy.