abstract
The sintering behaviour of an alkali-free bioactive glass with its chemical composition corresponding to 80 wt.% diopside (CaMgSi2O6)-20 wt.% fluorapatite [Ca-5(PO4)(3)F] has been reported in this article. Glass powders with different particle size distributions and mean particle sizes varying between 14 mu m and 220 mu m were used. The influence of particle size variation on sintering ability of glass powders was studied by using an array of complementary advanced characterization techniques including in situ high temperature scanning electron microscopy (HT-SEM), differential thermal analysis (DTA), hot stage microscopy (HSM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained results have been discussed with their implications on the development of glass-ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Glass-ceramics consisting of dense glassy matrix with embedded diopside and fluorapatite crystals were obtained after sintering the glass powder compacts at 850 degrees C for 1 h. (C), 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
keywords
PHASE
subject category
Materials Science
authors
Kansal, I; Tulyaganov, DU; Pascual, MJ; Gremillard, L; Malchere, A; Ferreira, JMF
our authors
José Maria da Fonte Ferreira
Associate Professor with Aggregationacknowledgements
Ishu Kansal is indebted to the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for the PhD grant Reference SFRH/BD/70917/2010. Authors are thankful to CICECO, University of Aveiro for the facilities.