%0 Journal Article
%T Low temperature method for the production of calcium phosphate fillers
%A Anna Calafiori
%A Marcello Marotta
%A Alfonso Nastro
%A Guglielmo Martino
%J BioMedical Engineering OnLine
%D 2004
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1475-925x-3-8
%X Commercial hydroxyapatite (HAp) and monetite (M) powders are mixed with water and compacted to produce cylindrical samples. The material is processed at a temperature of 37¨C120 degrees C in saturated steam to obtain samples that are osteoconductive. The samples are studied by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Vickers hardness test (HV), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and porosity evaluation.The X-ray diffractions of powders from the samples show patterns typical of HAp and M powders. After thermal treatment, no new crystal phase is formed and no increase of the relative intensity of the peaks is obtained. Vicker hardness data do not show any relationship with treatment temperature. The total porosity decreases by 50¨C60% according to the specific thermal treatment. Scanning electron microscopy of the surfaces of the samples with either HAp 80%-M 20% (c) or Hap 50%-M 50% (f), show cohesion of the powder grains.The dissolution-reprecipitation process is more intesive in manufactured samples (c) and (f), according to Vickers hardness data. The process occurs in a steam saturated environment between 37 degrees and 120 degrees C. (c) (f) manufactured samples show pore dimension distributions useful to cellular repopulation in living tissues.From about 1990, calcium phosphate manufactured samples, typically produced with hydroxyapatite, are used as spacers or fillers in orthopedic reconstruction and as fillers in maxillofacial applications, [1-10], however, these implants have never been used under mechanical stress. Also, cements have been increasingly employed in craniofacial trauma surgery and dentistry [11-14], and after time these implants are reabsorbed and replaced by newly formed mineralized matrix.At present many researchers prefer to produce macroporous ceramics, which are biologically compatible and show osteoinductive properties [15,16]. That is when they are implanted in vivo in ectopic areas, new mineral bone matrix is detectable after only six months.If p
%U http://www.biomedical-engineering-online.com/content/3/1/8