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Vacuum thermal dealloying of magnesium-based alloys for fabrication of nanoporous refractory metals

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Abstract

A specialized dealloying technique called thermal dealloying was developed over 10 years ago for certain biomedical materials. This method is not widely used for synthesizing nanoporous metals. However, it offers advantages over conventional dealloying processes for fabrication of nanoporous structures, and is highly suitable for refractory metals that may be susceptible to oxidation during chemical/electrochemical dealloying and liquid metal dealloying. In this study, nanoporous structures were successfully fabricated from magnesium-based precursor alloys via sublimation of magnesium at elevated temperature under vacuum conditions. Different refractory metal diffusion rates affect the resulting density and amount of retained magnesium in each nanoporous material.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge support from the Electron Microscopy Center at the University of Kentucky, with special thanks to Nicolas J. Briot for help with FIB preparation of cross sections and EDS analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA

    Maria Kosmidou, Michael J. Detisch, Tyler L. Maxwell & T. John Balk

Authors
  1. Maria Kosmidou
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  2. Michael J. Detisch
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  3. Tyler L. Maxwell
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  4. T. John Balk
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Correspondence to T. John Balk.

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Kosmidou, M., Detisch, M.J., Maxwell, T.L. et al. Vacuum thermal dealloying of magnesium-based alloys for fabrication of nanoporous refractory metals. MRS Communications 9, 144–149 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2019.15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2019.15

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