Porous bioresorbable magnesium as bone substitute

Recently magnesium has been recognized as a very promising biomaterial for bone substitutes because of its excellent properties of biocompatibility, biodegradability and bioresorbability. In the present study, magnesium foams were fabricated by using a powder metallurgical process. Scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X~ray spectrometer (EDS) and compressive tester were used to characterize the porous magnesium. Results show that the Young's modulus and the peak stress of the porous magnesium increase with decreasing porosity and pore size. This study suggests that the mechanical properties of the porous magnesium with the low porosity of 35 % andlor with the small pore size of about 70 μ are close to those of human cancellous bones.