Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite Powder; And The Effects Of Oxide-based Sintering Additives On Tricalcium Phosphate

Calcium phosphate (CP) materials have been used extensively for bone replacement and augmentation due to their similarity to the mineral component of bone. In addition to being nontoxic, they are biocompatible, not recognized as foreign materials in vivo, and most importantly, exhibit osteoconductive behavior, being able to help in bone formation during healing. CPs form an intimate physicochemical bond with the host tissue, termed osseointegration. However the main limitation of calcium phosphates is their inherent brittle nature and poor mechanical performance under complex stress states. As a result, these materials have been used clinically only in non-load-bearing applications, primarily as granules. The primary goal of this research was to enhance mechanical performance of CPs, tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and hydroxyapatite (HAp) to be precise, in an attempt to develop controlled strength-loss resorbable/ bioactive ceramic bone-grafts for hard tissue engineering. In my work on TCP, I selected and introduced small quantities of single and multi-oxide sintering additives in TCP, to study their influence on sintering behavior, densification, mechanical properties and biodegradation/ biomechanical properties in vitro. Through this research, I could improve mechanical performance of β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and controlled its rate of biodegradation by introducing of certain additives. In my second work, I improved mechanical performance of HAp (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 by reducing particle-size of the powder through the synthesis of stoichiometric, nanocrystalline, single phase HAp powder in the range of 2-20 nm. Synthesis of powder was accomplished via a modified low temperature sol-gel technique using ethanol/ water as solvent.