Belén Alonso Rancurel

The objective of my thesis is to obtain Mg-based alloys with additive manufacturing Laser Beam-Powder Bed Fusion. I focus on Classical Nucleation and Growth Theory and Finite Elements modelling to control the crystallization in our alloys.

The Biomedical Engineering Division's research is consolidated under four key research themes; precision medicine, sustainability, antimicrobial resistance and data driven life science. My research is focused on sustainability.

• 2023 - current, PhD in Material Science at Uppsala University
• 2020 - 2023, MSc in Materials Science and Engineering, Double diploma EEIGM, Nancy, France / LTU, Luleå (Sweden)
• 2017 - 2020, BSc MPCI (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Computer Sciences) in University of Aix-Marseille (France)

Rare-earth-free magnesium metallic glasses enabled by additive manufacturing

The project addresses sustainability from different perspectives. The material under development is Mg-based, which is the lighter structural material, critical in aerospace and automotive industries to reduce weight related consumption. It is ideal for biomedical applications because of its antibacterial properties and biodegradability, avoiding secondary interventions when used as implants. The main limitations for its use are the low corrosion resistance and mechanical strength of Mg alloys. This project aims at enhancing both through microstructural tunning avoiding the use of rare-earth elements.

Sustainability is also present in the processing technique which is additive manufacturing by laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF). It reduces production cost for patient specific designs as well as raw material use. The fast cooling rates, variability of parameters and building strategies theoretically open the doors to new range of possible microstructures in the Mg-based alloy, from crystalline to bulk metallic glasses (BMG).

The project assists the development of the alloy modelling the L-PBF process. A finite element code is produced to predict the interaction of the laser with the material. CALPHAD based calculations are applied to link the building parameters to the different microstructure formation.

This work was partially supported by the Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability (WISE) funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.