SYNTHESIS, MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF Mg - 5Zn - 0.3Ca/nHA NANOCOMPOSITES

Recently, magnesium and its alloys have attracted great attention for use as biomaterial due to their good mechanical properties and biodegradability in the bio environment. In the present work, nanocomposites of Mg - 5Zn - 0.3Ca/ nHA were prepared using a powder metallurgy method. The powder of Mg, Zn and Ca were firstly blended, then four different mixtures of powders were prepared by adding nHA in different percentages of 0, 1, 2.5 and 5 %wt. Each mixture of powder separately was fast milled, pressed, and sintered. Then, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the fabricated nanocomposites were investigated. The XRD profile for nanocomposites showed that the intermetallic phases of MgZn2, MgZn5.31 and Mg2Ca were created after sintering and the SEM micrographs showed that the grain size of nanocomposite reduced by adding the nHA. The nano composite with 1wt. % nHA increased the density of Mg alloy from 1.73 g/cm3 to 1. 75 g/cm3 by filling the pores at the grain boundaries. The compressive strength of Mg alloy increased from 295MPa to 322, 329 and 318MPa by addition of 1, 2.5 and 5wt. % nHA, respectively.