Isothermal Continuous Equal Channel Angular Pressing of Magnesium Alloy AZ31

Magnesium (Mg) alloys are promising candidate materials for use in absorbable implants. For this purpose, they must possess a combination of properties needed for specific medical applications such as coronary stents or trauma fixation screws. The typically low strength, low ductility, and rapid biodegradation of many Mg alloys limit their suitability for medical use. However, these problems can be addressed by creating ultrafine-grain (UFG) variants of Mg alloys. For this purpose, an economical continuous equal channel angular pressing (ECAP-C) method was applied to produce UFG AZ31 Mg. An ultimate tensile strength of 333.5 MPa with an elongation of 28% was achieved, and continuous coil-to-coil ECAP-C processing was demonstrated.