Research on magnesium-zinc alloys for biodegradable implants awarded
PhD researcher Qiuying Ji wins Best Poster Award at 18th Symposium on Biodegradable Metals
At a glance:
- Award: Best Poster Award for Qiuying Ji, PhD researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials
- Event: 18th Symposium on Biodegradable Metals, 24–29 August 2026, Andalusia, Spain
- Research topic: Magnesium-zinc alloys with tailored mechanical and corrosion properties for biodegradable medical implants
Qiuying Ji, PhD researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI-SusMat), has won third place in the Best Poster Award competition at the 18th Symposium on Biodegradable Metals in Spain. Her research explores how magnesium-zinc alloys can be optimised for biodegradable medical implants that combine mechanical strength with controlled degradation. Using biodegradable implants support the bone as long as needed while gradually dissolving. This avoids additional surgery to remove an implant after healing.
Stabilizing magnesium implants with zinc
“This is my first award at an international conference, and I’m delighted that my research has been selected. Magnesium is a particularly promising material for implants as it is biocompatible and biodegradable, and its stiffness is closer to that of natural bone than many conventional metallic implant materials”, says Ji.
Till now, researchers need to carefully control how quickly magnesium degrades while ensuring that an implant remains mechanically stable for as long as it is needed. Ji and her colleagues are investigating whether adding zinc can help achieve this balance. Zinc is an essential trace element in the human body and can also improve the mechanical and corrosion properties of magnesium alloys.
Ji and her colleagues systematically studied magnesium alloys containing different amounts of zinc, ranging from almost pure magnesium to alloys with 20 weight % zinc. They investigated how the zinc content and different processing routes, including heat treatment and hot rolling, affect the alloys' microstructure, mechanical strength and corrosion behaviour.
The experiments showed that adding zinc increases the hardness of the alloys and makes them more resistant to corrosion. At higher concentrations, however, additional intermetallic phases formed and the electrochemical behaviour became less stable. Hot rolling provided a further improvement by refining the material's grain structure and strengthening it.
The findings therefore point towards a processing and composition window in which magnesium-zinc alloys could provide both sufficient mechanical strength and suitable degradation behaviour. In particular, hot-rolled alloys with relatively low zinc contents emerged as promising candidates for further research into biodegradable applications.
About the symposium
The 18th Symposium on Biodegradable Metals brought together researchers working on biodegradable metals and their potential medical applications. Its programme focused on scientific exchange and discussion of topics ranging from metallic materials and processing to corrosion as well as in vitro and in vivo testing.
