Effect of Stirring and Aging Time on the Formation of β-Tricalcium Phosphate (β-TCP) Powder

Abstract

In this research, the effect of stirring and aging time on the formation of β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) powder was studied. β-TCP powder was synthesized using calcium nitrate tetrahydrate (Ca(NO3)2.4H2O) (0.6M) and diammonium hydrogen phosphate (NH4)2HPO4) (0.4M) via wet precipitation method. The mixture was stirred with different duration (1, 3, 5 and 7 hours) then centrifuged before washed with distilled water (twice) and ethanol followed by drying in oven (80°C, 24 hours). The cake was ground to form powder. The as prepared powder was analyzed using thermo-gravimetric (TGA) to determine the suitable calcinations temperature. TGA results show that the proper calcinations temperature was 800°C. The formation of β-TCP was characterized using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. Sample with optimum formation of β-TCP phase will choose for further study on the effect of aging time (0.5, 1, 20 and 24 hours). XRD analysis confirmed that sample stirred for 7 hours and aging for 24 hours produced β-TCP as major phase. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) proved that β-TCP powder form as agglomerated particles