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Absorbable Metals: Tradeoffs That Make or Break Device Performance
Compare magnesium, iron, zinc, and molybdenum across strength, degradation, and manufacturability, with firsthand R&D lessons to inform better material and design decisions.
Live Webinar
A metal can have the strength your device needs and still be the wrong fit for an absorbable application.
Mechanical performance is only part of the equation. The material also needs to degrade at a rate that supports the device’s intended function, while meeting manufacturing and design requirements.
No single absorbable metal checks every box.
Join Adam Griebel, Principal Engineer at Fort Wayne Metals, and Steve Maxson, VP of Growth at Chamfr, for a live technical discussion on the tradeoffs behind absorbable metal selection and device performance.
Drawing on firsthand R&D experience, Adam will compare magnesium, iron, zinc, and molybdenum across strength, degradation, radiopacity, and manufacturability. He’ll cover where engineering challenges arise and how alloy selection, processing, coatings, and composite designs can influence real device outcomes.
Date
Tuesday, November 17, 2026
Time
1:00 PM ET
Live technical discussion and Q&A
Live technical discussion and Q&A
You’ll Learn About:
- How magnesium, iron, zinc, and molybdenum occupy distinct regions of the strength, degradation-rate, and radiopacity spectrum, and why material selection is highly application-dependent
- Practical tradeoffs engineers face: iron’s strength versus corrosion-cracking risk, zinc’s mechanical instability under clinical conditions, magnesium’s fast degradation and handling requirements, and molybdenum’s slow uniform corrosion with high radiopacity
- How coatings, composite designs, and processing choices can address performance limits
- Manufacturing realities across product forms (wire, bar, sheet, and composites), including challenges specific to magnesium
- Degradation testing challenges, in vitro–in vivo correlation issues, and lessons from vascular, neurovascular, surgical, and orthopedic applications
Featured
Meet the Speakers
Adam Griebel
Principal Engineer, R&D
Fort Wayne Metals
Adam Griebel is a Principal Engineer at Fort Wayne Metals, where he leads R&D focused on advanced biomaterials for medical devices. With more than a decade of experience, his work spans absorbable magnesium-, iron-, and zinc-based alloys, including alloy design, process development, material characterization, and manufacturing scale-up. He also contributes to ASTM and ISO standards efforts focused on absorbable metallic materials.
Steve Maxson
VP of Growth
Chamfr
Steve Maxson brings more than two decades of experience in catheter technologies. He specializes in helping teams move innovative concepts toward scalable solutions and will moderate this technical discussion on absorbable metal design and performance.
Who Should Attend
Built for MedTech Teams Evaluating Absorbable Metal Technologies
This webinar is designed for R&D engineers, materials engineers, product development teams, and manufacturing/process engineers working with or evaluating absorbable metals for implantable medical devices.
It will be especially relevant for teams comparing material options, navigating strength and degradation tradeoffs, or exploring new applications for temporary implants.
Technical Level: Intermediate. Best suited for engineers familiar with medical device development, with deeper R&D insights into absorbable metal behavior, processing, and degradation testing.
Register now to hear firsthand lessons from absorbable metal development, gain practical insights to inform your own material and design decisions, and bring your questions to the live Q&A.
Thank You to Our Partners
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