AZ31/HA-Zeolite Nano Crystalline Biocomposite Fabricated by Mechanical Alloying and Powder Metallurgy: Mechanical Properties

Magnesium and its alloys are light, biodegradable, biocompatible metals that have promising applications as biomaterials. Magnesium is potentially useful for orthopedic and cardiovascular applications. However, the corrosion rate of this metal is so high that its degradation occurs before the end of the healing process. One of the ways to improve the corrosion rate is to compose it’s with ceramic materials such as HA. In this study, at first the alloy with a nominal composition of Mg-3%Al-1%Zn (AZ31 alloy) was produced by high energy ball milling (HEBM) of Mg powder, Zn powder and Al powder under high purity argon. The ball milling parameters were chosen following: shaft rotation was 600 rpm, ratio of balls to powder was 20:1 and milling time was 2, 4 and 6 h under argon atmosphere. The Mg alloy powders obtained were pressed with different amounts of HA-Zeolite nano composite powder, weight ratio HA (Hydroxyapatite) to Zeolite 4:1 ,HZ, under 1000 MPa in steel die with 10 mm in diameter and 20 mm in height. The samples pressed were sintered for 1 h at 630 K in an inert atmosphere furnace. Microstructure characterization of as-milled powders and as-sintered alloys were carried out by SEM. An X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used for phase analysis. It means that powder obtained is nano structure. Mechanical strength and El. % improved up to approximately 50% and 40% by in AZ31/HZ bio- composite samples containing 20 wt. % HZ. So, this nano biocomposite is good candidate for orthopedic medical applications.