No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

We have been interested in human teeth which consist of hydroxyapatite (HA), but do not degrade for a long time. In order to overcome dissolution and mechanical degradation of man-made HA, biologically derived hydroxyapatite (BHA) ceramics were prepared from human teeth and their dissolving behavior was investigated in distilled water for 3-14 days and compared with an artificial HA made of synthetic HA powder. BHA ceramics were prepared by calcining freshly extracted human teeth at 900 degrees C and followed by sintering at 1200 degrees C for 2 h. All detectable peaks in the artificial HA are identical to HA lattice planes, whereas BHA consisted of a mixture of HA and beta-tricalcium phosphate (TCP). Although the artificial HA was expected to be stable in water, the surface dissolution initiated at grain boundaries followed by generated many separated grains and their associated pores. On the other hand, BHA showed that definite grains considered as beta-TCP were predominantly dissolved and the grains were separated from the matrix leaving pores. In the mean time, the rest region, mainly consisting of HA, did not show any evidence of dissolution. It indicates that BHA showed rather stable grain boundaries and lack of excessive dissolution in liquid environment.

In this study, it was demonstrated how second phases with small amount, which are hardly detected by XRD analysis, affect grain boundary dissolution and related mechanical properties of HA. All HA disks sintered at 1200 oC for 2 h in air with under moisture protection were phase pure and had Ca/P molar ratio of 1.67. Following certain period of exposure to the distilled water, the surface dissolution initiated at grain boundaries and particle loosening, subsequently resulting in decrease in mechanical properties of HA. In order to understand the dissolution mechanism, grain boundary structure of HA was identified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution TEM observation. From the analysis, it was found that the non-stoichiometric phase as α-tricalcium phosphate (TCP) transformed from β-TCP was existed at grain boundaries and caused surface dissolution of HA. From the XRD analysis, it was found that (211) and (112) planes of hydroxyapatite were susceptible to dissolution, whereas (300) plane was relatively stable.