Magnetic susceptibility, artifact volume in MRI, and tensile properties of swaged Zr–Ag composites for biomedical applications

Zr–Ag composites were fabricated to decrease the magnetic susceptibility by compensating for the magnetic susceptibility of their components. The Zr–Ag composites with a different Zr–Ag ratio were swaged, and their magnetic susceptibility, artifact volume, and mechanical properties were evaluated by magnetic balance, three-dimensional (3-D) artifact rendering, and a tensile test, respectively. These properties were correlated with the volume fraction of Ag using the linear rule of mixture. We successfully obtained the swaged Zr–Ag composites up to the reduction ratio of 96% for Zr-4, 16, 36, 64Ag and 86% for Zr–81Ag. However, the volume fraction of Ag after swaging tended to be lower than that before swaging, especially for Ag-rich Zr–Ag composites. The magnetic susceptibility of the composites linearly decreased with the increasing volume fraction of Ag. No artifact could be estimated with the Ag volume fraction in the range from 93.7% to 95.4% in three conditions. Young's modulus, ultimate tensile strength (UTS), and 0.2% yield strength of Zr–Ag composites showed slightly lower values compared to the estimated values using a linear rule of mixture. The decrease in magnetic susceptibility of Zr and Ag by alloying or combining would contribute to the decrease of the Ag fraction, leading to the improvement of mechanical properties.