Abstract
Hydroxyapatite (HA) has been increasingly used in biomedical applications due to its biocompatibility with living tissues. However, its use is limited to low load bearing areas due to the poor mechanical properties compared to bone. The aim of this project is to improve the mechanical properties of synthetic HA by optimising the processing method and also by using a phosphate based glass as a sintering aid to develop Glass Reinforced Hydroxyapatite (GR-HA). A phosphate based glass containing CaO, P2O5 and CaF2 was incorporated into HA at 2.5wt% and 5wt% additions during the milling process prior to sintering at 1300°C. The flexural strength mean values for GR-HA ranged from 80MPa to 110MPa. Pure HA exhibited a much lower flexural strength mean value ranging from 66MPa to 79MPa. The improved mechanical properties were associated with the occurrence of residual stress as a result of decomposition of HA to b-Tricalcium Phosphate (TCP) and in 5wt% GRHA to a-Tricalcium Phosphate (TCP).
Highlights
There has been a great interest in the use of ceramics HA, in biomedical applications due to its very good biological performance
The 2.5wt% glass reinforced hydroxyapatite (GR-HA) showed the largest variation in the collected data as the standard deviation was calculated at 27.2MPa
Flexural strength of GR-HAs The findings from the present study clearly demonstrated the correlation between phosphate glass wt% additions and improved mechanical properties flexural strength (Figure1)
Summary
There has been a great interest in the use of ceramics HA, in biomedical applications due to its very good biological performance. The clinical applications of bioceramics include the repair of skeletal system, composed of bones, joints and teeth and to augment both hard and soft tissues (Hench et al, 1993). Synthetic HA has found success in hard tissue surgery (Wolford et al, 1987) as it is capable of undergoing bonding osteogenesis when implanted in vivo. It is able to bond with the host tissue by stimulating a specific biological response at the host/biomaterial interface. Its use has been limited to low load bearing areas due to its poor mechanical properties toughness and bending strength
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