Optimization of Sintering Conditions for Improvement of Mechanical Property of a-Tricalcium Phosphate Blocks

Bioactive ceramic materials have been under research as bone substitute for several decades. To repair the high-load bearing bones, mainly cortical bones, there is a need for the substitute to possess comparable mechanical strength to cortical bone, of which the compressive strength ranges between 100 and 230 MPa. Two prevailing bone repairing material, β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP, β-Ca3(PO4)2) and hydroxyapatite (HAp: Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) have been widely researched and sintered into dense blocks to meet the mechanical requirements. α-tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP, α-Ca3(PO4)2), a high temperature polymorph of β-TCP, received relatively less attention and α-TCP dense sintered blocks have not been reported yet. In this research, we fabricated α-TCP dense blocks by sintering under various temperatures (1150-1400 °C) and the highest compressive strength was around 230 MPa.