185th Structural Materials Seminar: Dr. Maria Wątroba (Empa)
On January 09, 2026, Dr. Maria Wątroba (Empa) gave a lecture at NIMS as the 185th Structural Materials Seminar.
Dr. Maria Wątroba (Fifth from the right)
- Date and Time
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Friday, January 9, 2026. 10:30～11:15
- Location
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Advanced Structural Materials Bldg. 2F 213 Conference Room, NIMS Sengen Site
- Title
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Microscale Additive Manufacturing of Zinc Architectures: From Microstructure Control to Mechanical Performance
- Speaker
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Dr. Maria Wątroba, a postdoctoral researcher at Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology,
JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (Short-Term) for North American and European Researchers
Abstract:
Biomedical implants benefit from surface designs that promote favorable mechanical performancewhile promoting cell attachment and reducing bacterial infections. Electrochemical fabricationprovides a versatile pathway to tailor both microstructure and geometry, which are key factorsgoverning the mechanical and biological performance of metallic materials at small length scales.This work demonstrates systematic progression from two-dimensional electrodeposited zinccoatings to three-dimensional zinc micro-architectures fabricated using lithography-assistedelectrochemical microfabrication. Zinc is an attractive material for biomedical applications due to itsbiocompatibility, antibacterial activity, and controlled biodegradation; however, its limitedmechanical strength necessitates careful microstructural control, particularly at the microscale.Comprehensive microstructural characterization combined with micromechanical testing establishesfundamental structure-property relationships in electrodeposited zinc coatings. Focused ion beam–milled (FIB) micropillars testing combined with microstructural characterization via electronbackscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), reveal howelectrodeposition parameters influence grain morphology, texture, and deformation behavior,including zinc’s characteristic inverse Hall–Petch relation upon grain refinement. These insights areextended to three-dimensional zinc micropillars and microlattice structures, enabling the parallelfabrication and mechanical testing of multiple microscale specimens. Mechanical testing indicatesthat the fundamental deformation mechanisms observed in planar coatings are largely preserved inthree-dimensional architectures.Overall, this study highlights electrochemical microfabrication as a robust platform for designingzinc-based micro-architectures with tunable mechanical performance, providing a foundation forfuture simulation-assisted development of materials for biomedical applications.