LAUSR

Abstract The boronized Ti6Al4V/hydroxyapatite (HA) composites were fabricated by facile microwave sintering of mixed powders of Ti6Al4V, HA and TiB2 at 1050 °C for 30 min, with a focus on the effects of HA addition (0–10 wt%) on the mechanical properties of the resulting composites for loading-bearing biomedical applications. Due to phase and microstructural evolutions, there were two stages of the variations of mechanical properties. In stage I with addition of less than 5 wt% HA, there existed only modest decreases of the properties contributed by the “lens effect” of microwave and the “buffer effect” of TiB. In stage II with higher HA addition, the properties of the composite declined rapidly mainly due to more and unevenly distributed pores with poorer densification of the matrix. The composite synthesized with addition of 5 wt% HA exhibited the optimal and superior mechanical properties compared with other types of related composites and natural bones.