Preparation and properties of artificial bone with lead-free piezoelectric materials

Abstract

In order to fabricate the artificial bone with high bioactive property, lead-free barium titanate (BaTiO3, BT) piezoelectric material added hydroxyapatite (HA) composites were prepared in this study. Compared with the pure HA materials, the introduction of BT can increase the electrical properties of the samples while ensuring good biological properties. The electrical properties, such as piezoelectric constant d33, hysteresis loop and dielectric spectrum were measured, respectively. The bending strength, Vickers hardness, cytotoxicity and osteogenic property of the BT/HA composites were also discussed. It is revealed that the non-toxic sample with 95 wt% BT and 5 wt% HA (95BT+5HA) has the best osteoinductivity, the piezoelectric constant d33 of which is 79.2 pC N-1. The bending strength and Vickers hardness of the 95BT+5HA sample are 138.3 MPa and 472.4, respectively, realizing the desired mechanical properties of human bones. Comprehensive analyses of various properties show that the 95BT+5HA composite can meet the requirements of artificial bone, and is expected to be a promising generation of substitute bone materials.