{"id":54132,"date":"2026-03-31T10:53:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/?post_type=news&p=54132"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:54:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:54:38","slug":"stronger-metals-safer-healing","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/stronger-metals-safer-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"Stronger Metals, Safer Healing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A team including Johns Hopkins materials scientists have optimized a set of processing routes to enhance the mechanical and corrosion properties of biodegradable bone implants. This class of implants seeks to degrade in the body at a rate that matches the healing of bone, helping to mitigate the effects of bone loss typically associated with permanent titanium or steel implants and, thus, removing the need for additional surgeries. Their findings will be presented at <\/span>The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS)\u00a0Annual Meeting and Exhibition<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0has been\u00a0published in the\u00a0meeting\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>supplemental proceedings<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0March\u00a02026.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCurrent\u00a0implants can\u00a0cause stress shielding, a\u00a0condition\u00a0that causes bone loss and\u00a0therefore increases the risks of fracture and\u00a0additional surgeries to fix,\u201d\u00a0says Andrew Kim, fourth-year\u00a0<\/span>materials science and engineering<\/span><\/a>\u00a0undergraduate\u00a0student on the project.\u00a0\u201cStress shielding\u00a0stems from\u00a0the implant carrying the load from\u00a0daily\u00a0movements like sitting, standing, and walking.\u00a0We want to avoid this in our biodegradable alloys\u00a0by\u00a0selecting materials that better match the\u00a0intrinsic\u00a0properties of human bone and\u00a0implement\u00a0thermomechanical processing to tune their strength and corrosion resistance properties,\u201d\u00a0he says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers applied\u00a0various processing methods to a magnesium-calcium alloy. This alloy is favorable to use as a biodegradable implant material as\u00a0its\u00a0simplified chemistry presents less cytotoxicity risks, and\u00a0as calcium is a critical element used to\u00a0support bone.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to balance the alloy\u2019s mechanical performance and its corrosion resistance,\u201d says Sreenivas Raguraman, PhD student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Kim\u2019s mentor on the project. \u201cThese alloys need to provide sufficient strength and structural support during the healing period, while also degrading at a controlled rate in the body. At the same time, we do not want an implant that is excessively stiff compared with bone, because that can lead to stress shielding.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team applied several commonly used processing techniques to a magnesium-calcium alloy to understand how each step influences performance. These methods included extrusion, which presses the metal at high temperatures through a precision tool called a die; rolling, which reduces thickness by compressing the material; Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP), which refines grain size through severe plastic deformation; and annealing, which involves controlled heating to modify the material\u2019s microstructure.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cExtruded samples were set as our baseline reference condition as it is a process regularly used in developing medical devices.\u201d says Kim. \u201cBetween the extruded and ECAP samples, batches from each condition underwent rolling, annealing, and a combination of rolling and annealing. This set of processing routes was used to\u00a0determine\u00a0how each step would\u00a0impact\u00a0the materials mechanical and corrosion properties, alongside their combined effects.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then,\u00a0Raguraman viewed\u00a0the\u00a0most processed alloy\u00a0using\u00a0Electron\u00a0Backscatter\u00a0Diffraction\u00a0(EBSD)\u00a0on a scanning electron microscope, to see how the\u00a0smallest crystal structures in the alloy changed due to processing techniques.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we examined the alloy processed through the most effective pathway, we observed a clear refinement in grain size compared to the initial extruded condition,\u201d says\u00a0Raguraman.\u00a0\u201cThis sample had finer and more uniformly distributed grains, which are known to strengthen metals.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The improvement in strength comes from changes at the microscopic level. The processing steps increase defects known as dislocations and make it more difficult for them to move, while the refined grain structure further strengthens the material.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0discovered\u00a0that the\u00a0alloy\u00a0strength increased by 50 percent, which was a significant and surprising finding,\u201d\u00a0says Kim.\u00a0\u201cImportantly, the corrosion rate did not significantly change, showing that we can improve mechanical performance without compromising how the material\u00a0degrades\u00a0in the body.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The teams\u00a0seek\u00a0to conduct further advanced characterization of the alloy to better understand the mechanisms behind the combined processing effects. Additionally, they wish to\u00a0conduct corrosion-fatigue tests on the alloy, which mimics the combination of cyclical loading and degradation the implant would experience within the body.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This\u00a0work\u00a0was completed\u00a0under the guidance of\u00a0<\/span>Tim Weihs<\/span><\/a>, professor of materials science and engineering at Johns Hopkins. The team\u00a0collaborated\u00a0with\u00a0Adam\u00a0Griebel,\u00a0senior\u00a0research\u00a0and\u00a0development\u00a0engineer at\u00a0Fort Wayne Metals.\u00a0The work was funded in part by the\u00a0Johns Hopkins University\u00a0<\/span>Provost\u2019s Undergraduate Research Award (PURA)<\/span><\/a>, which Kim earned earlier this year,\u00a0and\u00a0a research grant from\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>National Science Foundation<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-54132","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStronger Metals, Safer Healing - Department of Materials Science & Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/stronger-metals-safer-healing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stronger Metals, Safer Healing - Department of Materials Science & Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A team including Johns Hopkins materials scientists have optimized a set of processing routes to enhance the mechanical and corrosion properties of biodegradable bone implants. 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