The valences of egg white for designing smart porous bioceramics: As foaming and consolidation agent

abstract

Porous hydroxyapatite bioceramics were developed by a new direct consolidation method based on the foaming capability of egg white and on its gelling properties on heating, thus acting both as pore former and consolidator agent. The bubble forming capability of fresh egg white, due to the presence of a globular protein - albumen, allows the formation of a stable foam when added to a ceramic suspension. Adding a sufficient amount of the globular protein to the suspension revealed to be crucial to control either the pore volume fraction as well as the gelling behaviour and the rigidity of the green bodies. This consolidation method can be performed in nonporous moulds, enabling materials with controlled porosity to be obtained by varying the egg white content in the slip composition. After drying, burnout and sintering, materials with ultimate porosities close to 75 % were obtained.

subject category

Engineering; Materials Science

authors

Lemos, AF; Ferreira, JMF

our authors

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