Fossils as candidate material for orthopedic applications
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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Using Archival Japanese Paper and Thermoplastic Resins to Prepare Fossils for Storage, Display, Transport, and Radiography
Published on: November 14, 2025
Hector Pesenti1, Matteo Leoni, Antonella Motta
1Department of Materials Engineering and Industrial Technologies University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Abstract:
Ceramic powders from fossil deposits were thoroughly characterized from the material point of view and sintered to produce massive components. The raw material, a mixture of apatite minerals, feldspars, and quartz, seems ideally suitable to obtain a biologically compatible glass ceramic. Preliminary in vitro tests of proliferation and adhesion of MG63 human osteoblast-like cell line on a selected sample are encouraging. Results are correlated with sintering conditions and phase composition: the fossil can be sintered to almost full density at temperatures as low as 900 °C and seems to quickly promote cell activation with respect to hydroxylapatite.
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