Effect of raw material ratios on the compressive strength of magnesium potassium phosphate chemically bonded ceramics

• High packing density and amorphous hydrated phase improved the compressive strength.
• Residual KH2PO4 and poor bonding phase lower the compressive strength.
• MPCBC fabricated with optimized parameters had the highest compressive strength.

The compressive strength of magnesium potassium phosphate chemically bonded ceramics is important in biomedical field. In this work, the compressive strength of magnesium potassium phosphate chemically bonded ceramics was investigated with different liquid-to-solid and MgO-to-KH2PO4 ratios. X-ray diffractometer was applied to characterize its phase composition. The microstructure was imaged using a scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the compressive strength of the chemically bonded ceramics increased with the decrease of liquid-to-solid ratio due to the change of the packing density and the crystallinity of hydrated product. However, with the increase of MgO-to-KH2PO4 weight ratio, its compressive strength increased firstly and then decreased. The low compressive strength in lower MgO-to-KH2PO4 ratio might be explained by the existence of the weak phase KH2PO4. However, the low value of compressive strength with the higher MgO-to-KH2PO4 ratio might be caused by lack of the joined phase in the hydrated product. Besides, it has been found that the microstructures were different in these two cases by the scanning electron microscope. Colloidal structure appeared for the samples with lower liquid-to-solid and higher MgO-to-KH2PO4 ratios possibly because of the existence of amorphous hydrated products. The optimization of both liquid-to-solid and MgO-to-KH2PO4 ratios was important to improve the compressive strength of magnesium potassium phosphate chemically bonded ceramics.