Production of biodegradable Mg-based alloys by mechanical alloying

Abstract

Mg has several attractive characteristics that make Mg-based materials potentially used for bio-engineering applications. In this work, a ternary Mg-Zn-Ca alloy was manufactured using low energy mechanical alloying (MA) followed by a sintering process under a controlled atmosphere. The aim of this work was to study the effect of milling time on ternary magnesium-zinc-calcium (Mg-Zn-Ca) alloys produced by mechanical alloying. The Mg base alloys were synthesized in a planetary ball mill under an argon atmosphere using stainless steel containers and balls with a milling regimen of 400 rpm for 2, 5 and 10 hours. The alloyed powders obtained by MA at different milling times were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). These results suggest that Mg65Zn30Ca5 and Mg70Zn25Ca5 alloys can be synthesized by mechanical alloying.