Nano to micro size transition of hydroxyapatite in porcine bone during heat treatment with low heating rates

Abstract

This work focuses on the changes of raw hydroxyapatite obtained from porcine bones during heat treatment with heating rates of 2.5 and 5.0 °C/min between 600 °C and 1100 °C. High-Resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) images showed that raw hydroxyapatite was formed by high-ordered nanometric platelet crystals with a length of around 18 nm and width around 7 nm. High-Resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) images evidenced the coalescence phenomena during heating giving. It was found that the growth of the crystals and the transition from nano to a micro-size occurred at around 700 °C. And the changes in the full width at half maximum (FWHM) for the characteristic (002) plane of the X-ray diffraction patterns and the FWHM of the characteristic Raman band at 960 cm-1 for ν1 PO43- exhibited the transition from nano to a micro size, that was confirmed by HR-SEM images and the thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. The porosity of the BIO-HAp changes from intra nanometric to intercrystalline.