POROUS HA/ALUMINA COMPOSITES INTENDED FOR BONE-TISSUE ENGINEERING

Ceramic biomaterials based on hydroxyapatite (HA) or alumina have been intensively studied due to their load-bearing applications in the bone-tissue replacement/reconstruction and dental applications. Here we present a study of the preparation and properties of HA/alumina (HA/Al) composites with a targeted porosity. The HA powder used for the composite's preparation was synthetized via a precipitation method under a variety of pH values. The resulting powders were verified with XRD, Raman and FTIR analyses. The particle size was assessed via SEM and laser diffraction. The as-prepared HA nano powder and alumina powder (median 3 gm) were homogenously mixed having a composition of HA/Alumina = 90/10 (w/w). A suspension with 65 % mass fraction of the powders was properly mixed and, with the help of foaming agents, it was foamed in situ. The behavior under an increasing temperature was studied, using a heating microscope and dried foams were sintered under determined temperatures. The final sintered foams were examined in vitro in a synthetic body fluid, which predicted the behavior of bone implants in vivo. The behavior of the treated samples was studied with SEM. The newly formed HA composites were confronted with Ca2+ and PO43- contents in the applied body-fluid solution.