PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Školáková, Andrea AU - Lovaši, Tomáš AU - Pinc, Jan AU - Kačenka, Zdeněk AU - Rieszová, Lenka AU - Žofková, Zuzana TI - The Effect of Zinc and Calcium Addition on Magnesium Alloy DP - 2020 Dec 14 TA - Manufacturing Technology Journal PG - 668--676 VI - 20 IP - 5 IS - 12132489 AB - The magnesium alloys, alloyed by the low amount of calcium and zinc concurrently, are considered as a biodegradable materials for implants. However, the as-cast alloy exhibits the insufficient mechanical properties as well as corrosion resistance which are affected mainly by the presence of brittle secondary phases, such as Mg2Ca. For this reason, presented work was focused on the as-cast magnesium alloy with alloying elements (Ca and Zn) whose content did not exceed 1 wt. %, specifically MgCa0.5Zn0.5 (in wt. %). Microstructure consisted of magnesium matrix with a very low amount of Mg2Ca and Ca2Mg6Zn3 phases which crystallized along the boundaries. These phases and their localization influenced the resulted mechanical properties. The hardness was higher due to them and tensile properties were worse than the compressive ones. The addition of zinc did not improve ductility, but in the case of compressive stress-strain test, the relative deformation was satisfactory. Moreover, the corrosion resistance of as-cast alloy MgCa0.5Zn0.5 was better than pure magnesium.