Comparison of the Weibull characteristics of hydroxyapatite and strontium doped hydroxyapatite

The effects of two strontium (Sr) additions, 5% and 10% of the total calcium (Ca) content, on the phase assemblage and Weibull statistics of hydroxyapatite (HA) are investigated and compared to those of undoped HA. Sintering was carried out in the range of 900-1200 °C in steps of 1000 °C in a conventional furnace. Sr content had little effect on the mean particulate size. Decomposition of the HA phase occurred with Sr incorporation, while β-TCP stabilization was shown to occur with 10% Sr additions. Porosity in both sets of doped samples was at a comparable level to porosity in the undoped HA samples, however the 5% Sr-HA samples displayed the greatest reduction in porosity with increasing temperature while the porosity of the 10% Sr-HA samples remain relatively constant over the full sintering temperature range. The undoped HA samples displayed the greatest Weibull strengths and the porosity was determined to be the major controlling factor. However, with the introduction of decompositional phases in the Sr-HA samples, the dependence of strength on porosity is reduced and the phase assemblage becomes the more dominant factor for Weibull strength. The Weibull modulus is relatively independent of the porosity in the undoped HA samples. The 5% Sr-HA samples experience a slight increase in Weibull modulus with porosity, indicating a possible relationship between the parameters. However the 10% Sr-HA samples show the highest Weibull modulus with a value of approximately 15 across all sintering temperatures. It is postulated that this is due to the increased amount of surface and lattice diffusion that these samples undergo, which effectively smooths out flaws in the microstructure, due to a saturation of Sr content occurring in grain boundary movement.