Mechanical Properties of Biomaterials Based on Calcium Phosphates and Bioinert Oxides for Applications in Biomedicine

Abstract

Calcium phosphates (CaP) have been sought as biomaterials for reconstruction of bone defect in maxillofacial, dental and orthopaedic applications [1-31]. Calcium phosphates have been used clinically to repair bone defects for many years. Calcium phosphates such as hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, HAp), fluorapatite (Ca10(PO4)6F2, FAp), tricalci‐ um phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2, TCP), TCP-HAp composites and TCP-FAp composites are used for medical and dental applications [3, 10-29]. In general, this concept is determined by advantageous balances of more stable (frequent by hydroxyapatite or fluorapatite) and more resorbable (typically tricalcium phosphate) phases of calcium phosphates, while the optimum ratios depend on the particular applications. The complete list of known calci‐ um phosphates, including their major properties (such, the chemical formula, solubility data) is given in Table 1. The detailed information about calcium phosphates, their syn‐ thesis, structure, chemistry, other properties and biomedical applications have been com‐ prehensively reviewed recently in reference [24].