Fabrication and characterisation of MG-ZN alloys reinforced with CNF: A study on the sintering process

Abstract

Nowadays, magnesium (Mg) based alloys have gained much interest due to its potential use as biodegradable implants for the application of fixation, screws and plates in orthopaedics field. The main problems of biodegradable implants made from pure Mg are its low strength and easily corrodible. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyse the sintering temperature of magnesium-zinc (Mg-Zn) alloys reinforced with carbon nanofibres (CNF) through mechanical and morphological structures. Pure Mg, Zn, and CNF was prepared via powder metallurgy (PM) method. The samples were mechanically alloyed using planetary ball mill to create finer powder. Next, the samples were compacted using the Instron machine for 10 minutes at room temperature to produce a 10 mm diameter cylindrical platelet. Then, the specimens were heated with an argon gas flow for 4 hours at different sintering temperatures. The results showed that the optimum sintering temperature for Mg-Zn alloys reinforced with CNF was at 250℃ with elastic modulus and yield strength of 2729.886 MPa and 140.628 MPa, respectively. The findings of this study concluded that Mg-Zn alloys reinforced with CNF composites have great potential to be used as new biodegradable implants for medical applications in the future.