Grain refinement mechanism and mechanical properties of wrought Zn-0.1Mg-0.02Mn alloys by rolling at different reductions

Zinc alloys have great potential to become a new generation of biodegradable implant materials for biomedical applications due to their moderate corrosion rates. However, the poor mechanical properties restrict the application of pure zinc as biomedical materials. In this study, Zn–0.1Mg–0.02Mn alloy was rolled to different reductions at room temperature. The 80% reduction rolled alloy showed the best mechanical performance with ultimate tensile strength and elongation of 397.7 MPa and 15.9%, respectively, which satisfy the requirement of biomedical implant materials. Grain refinement mainly promoted the strength enhancement with increased rolling reductions. The microstructure evolution reveals that the basal-oriented grains and non-basal-oriented grains had different deformation mechanisms to induce DRX process during rolling. DRX could be directly accelerated in basal-oriented grains by basal slip, while twinning and de-twinning process operate to refine the non-basal-oriented grains.