Effects of 5 wt.% Polycaprolactone, Polyhydroxybutyrate and Polyvinyltrimethoxysilane on the Properties of Ag/Zn/Mg Alloy

Materials (Basel). 2022 Aug 5;15(15):5421. doi: 10.3390/ma15155421.

Abstract

Mg-based alloys have several suitable properties for biomaterials, but they have major problems of being less antibacterial and have a low mechanical strength. To solve these problems, a new combination of Ag/Zn/Mg was prepared in this study, where the presence of Zn and Ag can help to increase the bioactivity. The use of 5 wt.% polymers consisting of PolyCaproLactone (PCL), PolyHydroxyButyrate (PHB) and PolyVinylTriMethoxySilane (PVTMS) is also investigated. DSC, XRD, TEM, FTIR, SEM, and EDAX analysis, as well as mechanical and bioactive behavior, were investigated to characterize the prepared composites. In the comparison, the best behavior was found when PHB was used. The results show that the strength values ranged from ~201 to 261 MPa.

Keywords: Ag/Zn/Mg alloy; PolyCaproLactone; PolyHydroxyButyrate; PolyVinylTriMethoxy-Silane; bioactivity; mechanical properties.