Characterization of hydroxyapatite powders and compacts at room temperature and after sintering at 1200 degrees C

Synthetic HAP made in the laboratory as 'synthetic bone' may be a possible replacement or repair material, since the mineral phase of dental hard tissue and bone is essentially hydroxyapatite in form. Hydroxyapatite or modified compositions of HAP appear to offer possibilities as a substitute for the original material provided by nature. A high surface area (70.4 m2/g) commercially available hydroxyapatite (HAP) of poor crystallinity was converted to a highly crystalline HAP through sintering at 1200 degrees C in an atmosphere of steam and nitrogen. Compacts were made of the powdered HAP from 500 to 25,000 psi and sintered under the same conditions. The changes in the resulting pore volumes, pore sizes, pore size distributions, densities, and surface areas of the sintered compacts were determined by mercury porosimetry. A 20-fold reduction in open pore volume for sintered compacts was observed. For compacts made at pressures above 5000 psi, the reduction in open pore volume was compensated for by the formation of closed pore volume. The sintering mechanism was attributed mainly to neck formation, growth between particles, diffusion, and plastic deformation.