Corrosion mechanism and bioactivity of borate glasses analogue to Hench’s bioglass

Bioactive borate glasses (from the system Na2O-CaO-B2O3-P2O5) and corresponding glass-ceramics as a new class of scaffold material were prepared by full replacement of SiO2 with B2O3 in Hench patented bioactive glass. The prepared samples were investigated by differential thermal analysis (DTA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The DTA data were used to find out the proper heat treatment temperatures for preparation of the appropriate glass-ceramics with high crystallinity. The prepared crystalline glass-ceramics derivatives were examined by XRD to identify the crystalline phases that were precipitated during controlled thermal treatment. The FTIR spectroscopy was used to justify the formation of hydroxyapatite as an indication of the bioactivity potential or activity of the studied ternary borate glasses or corresponding glass-ceramics after immersion in aqueous phosphate solution. The corrosion results are interpreted on the basis of suggested recent views on the corrosion mechanism of such modified borate glasses in relation to their composition and constitution.