A novel approach on the synthesis and characterization of bioceramic composites

Abstract

Abstract α-alumina, hydroxyapatite (HA) and bioactive glass are all promising bioceramic materials with specific properties. However, there is a limited amount of work involving their composites. Therefore, this work focuses on preparation and characterization of alumina-HA-bioactive glass composites. HA, α-alumina and bioactive glass powders were prepared through wet chemical precipitation, sol-gel and conventional melting-quenching processes, respectively. Composite pellets were formed by pressing the bioceramic powder mixture and then sintering at 1250 °C for 1 h. Chemical phase analyses proved that α-alumina, whitlockite, anorthite and sodium calcium silicate phases were found in the sintered samples. Bioceramic composite pellets exhibited pretty low compression strength (∼28.50–47.3 MPa) due to high apparent porosity (∼28–30%). Microstructure observations showed that calcium phosphate (CaP) based precipitations with different morphologies were developed on the surface of the composites depending on the immersion time in phosphate buffered saline solution. This was attributed to the favorable bioactivity behavior of the material.