Cyclic Mechanical Behavior of MgCaZn Metallic Glasses for Biomedical Scaffold Applications

MgCaZn metallic glasses have attracted interest as potential materials for biodegradable biomedical scaffolds due to their combination of metallic glass properties and biodegradability. In this work, molecular dynamics simulations are employed to investigate the cyclic mechanical response of Mg10Ca70Zn20 metallic glasses. Ten loading cycles are applied at temperatures from 100 to 400 K, strain amplitudes from 0.01 to 0.04, and porosities corresponding to spherical voids of 3 to 7 nm in diameter. Increasing temperature reduces stiffness and strength while increasing dissipated mechanical work. In the case of the strain amplitude, increasing its value produces larger tensile and compressive stresses, greater energy dissipation, and higher residual strain, while the tensile stiffness decreases more than the compressive stiffness. When analyzing porosity effects, reduction in both stiffness and strength with porosity is observed, whereas residual strain shows no clear dependence on porosity. Despite these variations, the mechanical properties remain relatively stable over the ten cycles, with only moderate cycle-to-cycle fluctuations. Overall, these results provide insights into the mechanical response of MgCaZn metallic glasses subjected to cyclic loading and their relevance to biomedical scaffold design.