Ceramics-Silikáty 58 (2) 157-164 (2014)

AGING TIME AND SYNTHESIS PARAMETERS OF NANOCYSTALLINE SINGLE PHASE HYDROXYAPATITE PRODUCED BY A PRECIPITATION METHOD

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the major inorganic component in hard tissue of the human body, such as dental and bone. However, there is a great challenge to produce high purity phase HA with nano-size particles. In this research work, precipitation method is a successful route to synthesize purity nanocrystalite hydroxyapatite (HA) at low temperature. The effects of stirring speed and aging time during the precipitation process on the formation of nanocrystalline HA were investigated. The results indicated that the stoichiometric pure HA powders with nano-sized, rod-like particles of about 8.7 - 20.7 nm in width and 44.2 - 107.0 nm in length were successfully produced. In order to study the thermal stability, as-prepared HA powders were calcined at different temperatures of 850, 1000 and 1200°C for 1 hour. It was concluded that purity HA had excellent thermal stability up to 1200°C when the aging time is prolonged to 24 hours.

Keywords: Hydroxyapatite, Aging time, Calcinations, Phase purity, Biomaterial