Processing and Characterization of Ball Milled Magnesium for Biomedical Implant

Abstract

Damage and disease in the bone tissue arises the need for developing biomedical implants. Magnesium and its alloys have been intensively studied as biodegradable implant materials, where their mechanical properties make them a potential candidate for orthopedic applications. As a biocompatible and biodegradable metal, it has several gains over the metallic implants presently in use, including eliminating the effects of stress shielding, improving biocompatibility concerns in vivo and eliminating the requirement of a second surgery. In this present research work magnesium powder of two different particle size as received (AR) and ball milled (BM) were prepared using powder metallurgy technique. The AR and BM powders were compacted, sintered and characterized using x-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy technique (SEM). The density measurement of AR and BM samples were measured using Archimedes’ principle. Bioactivity and degradation studies were evaluated by immersing the samples in simulated body fluid (SBF) for up to 3 weeks. The degradation studies were assessed by determining the weight loss method. The bioactivity was assessed observing the apatite formation when immersed in SBF using SEM and XRD. From this study it was observed that the corrosion resistance of pure magnesium increases with decrease in particle size (i.e. BM samples showed better corrosion resistance).