EFFECT OF ALLOYING ELEMENTS CONCENTRATION AND PROCESSING PARAMETERS ON THE STRUCTURAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT MAGNESIUM ALLOYS

Magnesium is utilized as a light-weight metal in the aerospace and automotive industries, and recently draws a lot of attention in biomedical research due to its biodegradable and biocompatible properties[1-3]. With Zinc being a biocompatible element, magnesium-zinc alloys have been very attractive for such applications. Mechanical properties including yield strength, tensile strength and hardness values of magnesium alloys are reported to be improved with the adding of alloying elements such as Zn, Zr, Al, Y and some rare earth elements. In our study we observe the improvement of mechanical properties Vicker's Hardness (VH) for Mg-Zn-Ca alloys with a fixed content of calcium and varying amounts of zinc alloying elements. Potential Outcome: Potentially new developed alloys could be used for lightweight materials for aerospace, automotive, and biomedical application.