Investigations into Mechanical and Corrosion Properties of Mg-Based Biomaterial Sintered Using a Customized Die Setup Coupled with a Tube Furnace

The present study emphasizes the development aspects of modular die setup to perform pressure-assisted sintering of recently developed Mg3Zn1Ca15Nb in a tubular heating furnace. The customized die setup was built in such a way that it could apply an arbitrary amount of pressure to the green compact of Mg3Zn1Ca15Nb. Subsequently, the pressurized sample was sintered in a tube furnace. Additionally, to validate the efficacy of the experimental setup, the mechanical and anti-corrosion properties of Mg3Zn1Ca15Nb were compared with samples sintered without utilizing the developed experimental setup. It was found that the less compacted sample sintered with spring load showed significant improvement in the mechanical and corrosion properties. However, only a marginal improvement in these properties was obtained for the highly compacted samples sintered with spring load. The application of spring load during sintering resulted in a highly dense product due to the formation of strong intermetallic bonding between the powder particles, which led to improved mechanical and anti-corrosion properties. After the sintering, it was noticed that the spring had lost its flexibility, which may have caused a reduction in the applied pressure. The application of pressure on the sample during sintering resulted in finer microstructure and reduction in porosity than the sample sintered without any pressure. As confirmed by XRD analysis, no phase constituents were found in the sintered Mg3Zn1Ca15Nb.