Bending strength of synthetic OH-carbonated hydroxyapatite single crystals

Although hydroxyapatite (HAP) is applied to medical implants because of its biocompatibility, no data on mechanical strength of HAP single crystals were yet available, partly due to the difficulty in obtaining sufficiently large single crystals. In the present study the bending strength of OH-carbonated hydroxyapatite (CHAP) single crystals containing carbonate of 0.09 CO2 wt % prepared hydrothermally was determined in three-point bending tests. The three-point bending tests were performed using a modified ultra micro-hardness tester with a span of 380 micrograms and a bending direction of <210>. The CHAP single crystals were broken in air, water, and air after immersion in alpha minimum essential medium (alpha MEM) + 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) for 3 weeks. The average bending strength of the CHAP single crystals was 468 +/- 205, 361 +/- 199 and 501 +/- 212 MPa in air, water, and air after immersion in alpha MEM + 10% FBS, respectively. In all cases the maximum strength at each crystal thickness value decreased in inverse proportion to the thickness.