The Preparation and Characterization of Magnesium Oxide Whisker

Due to the special topography in length and diameter, magnesium oxide (MgO) whisker has good mechanical properties to improve the mechanical and biological properties of biodegradable polymer materials, while the morphology of MgO whisker is significantly related to the morphology of its precursor whisker. In this work the precursor whisker is prepared through the mild solution approach and the effects of three producing factors on the growth of precursor whisker are systematically investigated by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It reveals that the morphology and composition of MgO predominantly dependent on precursor is prominently influenced by the preparing parameters, especially in solution concentration, aging time and aging temperature. The suitable preparing conditions in present experiment are with 0.6mol/L solution concentration, under 10h aging time and at room temperature, through which the radial dimension of whisker reaches to the nanolevel and the optimal aspect ratio is 80:1.