TY - JOUR

T1 - Zn-Li alloy after extrusion and drawing

T2 - Structural, mechanical characterization, and biodegradation in abdominal aorta of rat

AU - Zhao, Shan

AU - Seitz, Jan M.

AU - Eifler, Rainer

AU - Maier, Hans J.

AU - Guillory, Roger J.

AU - Earley, Elisha J.

AU - Drelich, Adam

AU - Goldman, Jeremy

AU - Drelich, Jaroslaw W.

N1 - Funding information: U.S. National Institute of Health-National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Grant #1R15HL129199-01) and U.S. National Institute of Health-National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (Grant #5R21 EB 019118-02) are acknowledged for funding this study. The authors thank Dr. Jianfeng Jiang from Biomedical Department of Michigan Technological University for the mechanical tester, Mingxiao Ye from Physics Department of Michigan Technological University for the FT-IR test, and Dr. Timothy Eisele from Chemical Engineering of Michigan Technological University for the Factsage software support. The authors also thank the staff of the Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory for assisting with the sample preparation for electron imaging.

PY - 2017/3/11

Y1 - 2017/3/11

N2 - Zinc shows great promise as a bio-degradable metal. Our early in vivo investigations implanting pure zinc wires into the abdominal aorta of Sprague-Dawley rats revealed that metallic zinc does not promote restenotic responses and may suppress the activities of inflammatory and smooth muscle cells. However, the low tensile strength of zinc remains a major concern. A cast billet of the Zn-Li alloy was produced in a vacuum induction caster under argon atmosphere, followed by a wire drawing process. Two phases of the binary alloy identified by x-ray diffraction include the zinc phase and intermetallic LiZn4 phase. Mechanical testing proved that incorporating 0.1 wt% of Li into Zn increased its ultimate tensile strength from 116 ± 13 MPa (pure Zn) to 274 ± 61 MPa while the ductility was held at 17 ± 7%. Implantation of 10 mm Zn-Li wire segments into abdominal aorta of rats revealed an excellent biocompatibility of this material in the arterial environment. The biodegradation rate for Zn-Li was found to be about 0.008 mm/yr and 0.045 mm/yr at 2 and 12 months, respectively.

AB - Zinc shows great promise as a bio-degradable metal. Our early in vivo investigations implanting pure zinc wires into the abdominal aorta of Sprague-Dawley rats revealed that metallic zinc does not promote restenotic responses and may suppress the activities of inflammatory and smooth muscle cells. However, the low tensile strength of zinc remains a major concern. A cast billet of the Zn-Li alloy was produced in a vacuum induction caster under argon atmosphere, followed by a wire drawing process. Two phases of the binary alloy identified by x-ray diffraction include the zinc phase and intermetallic LiZn4 phase. Mechanical testing proved that incorporating 0.1 wt% of Li into Zn increased its ultimate tensile strength from 116 ± 13 MPa (pure Zn) to 274 ± 61 MPa while the ductility was held at 17 ± 7%. Implantation of 10 mm Zn-Li wire segments into abdominal aorta of rats revealed an excellent biocompatibility of this material in the arterial environment. The biodegradation rate for Zn-Li was found to be about 0.008 mm/yr and 0.045 mm/yr at 2 and 12 months, respectively.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85015387222&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.msec.2017.02.167

DO - 10.1016/j.msec.2017.02.167

M3 - Article

C2 - 28482531

AN - SCOPUS:85015387222

VL - 76

SP - 301

EP - 312

JO - Materials Science and Engineering C

JF - Materials Science and Engineering C

SN - 0928-4931

ER -