Fabrication of Mg foams for biomedical applications by means of a replica method based upon spherical carbon particles

Interest in Mg foams is increasing due to their potential use as biomaterials. Fabrication methods determine to a great extent their structure and, in some cases, may pollute the foam. In this work Mg foams are fabricated by a replica method that uses as skeleton packed spheres of active carbon, a material widely utilized in medicine. After Mg infiltration, carbon particles are eliminated by an oxidizing heat treatment. The latter covers Mg with MgO which improves performance. In particular, oxidation retards degradation of the foam, as the polarization curves of the Mg foam with and without oxide indicate. The sphericity and regularity of C particles allows control of the structure of the produced open-cell foams.

The authors acknowledge partial financial support from the 'Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad' (Projects MAT2011-25029 and MAGNO—MAGnesium New Technological Opportunities, GRUPOANTOLIN-08Y). J M Molina wishes to thank the Universidad de Alicante (project GRE08-P13), the 'Generalitat Valenciana' (Project GVPRE/2008/244) and also the 'Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación' for a 'Ramón y Cajal' contract.