Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Two Different Magnesium Alloys Reinforced with Calcium Phosphate Cement Matrix

In the present work, an attempt is made to synthesize calcium phosphate cement by using different chemicals such as monetite, calcium carbonate, magnesium hydrogen phosphate tri-hydrate, and magnesium hydroxide in the calculated ratio and it is heat treated in the melting furnace; the sintered powder is then reinforced with magnesium alloy AZ31 and AZ91 series wires. Much effort has been made to enhance their mechanical properties since bending strength of calcium phosphate cement is low due to its brittleness and efforts have been made to increase its strength by adding reinforcement for cement matrix to increase its strength and toughness. The results obtained from this experiment clearly indicates that the workpiece obtained will withstand more amount of load and will have better strength than other workpiece for load bearing, mechanical properties like compressive strength, three-point bending strength were studied for both magnesium alloys reinforced composite at room temperature. Significant increase in mechanical properties was observed for cement with AZ91 reinforcement compared to AZ31 reinforcement. Microstructural analysis reveals that the calcium phosphate biocement contained bigger size granules and smaller size particles to form a dense structure which are evident from SEM microphotographs.