Sprak plasma sintering behavior of hydroxyapatite–titanium nano-composite

Abstract

Among various materials that have been used for fabrication of implants, hydroxyapatite and titanium, due to its bioactivity and good mechanical properties, respectively, have been widely noted by researchers. However, hydroxyapatite has inferior mechanical properties, and also, titanium does not form an interfacial bond with surrounding tissue. Since in this paper, hydroxyapatite (HAp)–Ti nano-composite was fabricated for achieving both bioactivity of hydroxyapatite and mechanical properties of titanium, HAp powder synthesized by a solution route with various contents of Ti powders was milled in a planetary ball mill. Then, milled samples were prepared by spark plasma sintering. The hardness, bending strength, fracture toughness, and phase changes of composites were studied. Results showed that the crystallite size of HAp was around 20 nm after 1-h milling. HAp–Ti nano-composite was fabricated after sintering process successfully. By increasing the amount of Ti from 5 to 20 wt%, mechanical properties were decreased in samples sintered at 650 °C and enhanced these properties in samples sintered at 750 °C.