Forming of bioabsorbable clips using magnesium alloy strips with enhanced characteristics

The paper shows the feasibility of manufacturing surgical clips using bioabsorbable AZ31B magnesium alloy strips characterized by enhanced forming characteristics, and, at the same time, improved corrosion resistance to human fluids that make them suitable for temporary applications. The novel process chain used for the clip manufacturing includes an extrusion-cutting step, to fabricate strips with a peculiar shear texture and extremely refined microstructure, and a dedicated bending operation to achieve the clip final shape. The strip forming operation setup was numerically designed by a multi-level finite element approach to provide the clip required shape without fracture occurrence.