Premium
The effect of varying Al 2 O 3 percentage in hydroxyapatite/Al 2 O 3 composite materials: Morphological, chemical and cytotoxic evaluation
Author(s) -
Epure L.M.,
Dimitrievska S.,
Merhi Y.,
Yahia L.'H.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.31377
Subject(s) - materials science , sintering , microstructure , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , composite number , nuclear chemistry , composite material , cytotoxicity , chemical composition , morphology (biology) , chemical engineering , in vitro , chemistry , organic chemistry , biochemistry , biology , engineering , genetics
Hydroxyapatite (HA) and HA‐alumina (HA/Al 2 O 3 ) composites, with Al 2 O 3 contents of 5, 10, 20, and 30%, were synthesized using a wet precipitation method and sintered at 900 and 1300°C. We investigated the effect of sintering temperature and relative concentration of HA and Al 2 O 3 on the chemical composition, surface morphology, and cytotoxicity of the composite powders. The XRD results show that in the 1300°C composites, HA partially decomposed into CaO which combined with Al 2 O 3 to form different calcium aluminates. For the 900°C composites the CaO phase was not detected, though a Ca/P ratio larger than 1.67 measured by XPS suggests that CaO was present in trace amounts. SEM‐EDX analysis indicated that the HA microstructure was affected by the sintering temperature, and this HA is present on the surface of Al 2 O 3 particles. The cytotoxicity of the composites was assessed indirectly using the MTT assay. The short‐term effect of leachables was quantified by exposing a L929 mouse fibroblast cell line to the degradation products released by the composites after immersion in the cell culture medium. Degradation products were less toxic to L‐929 at lower extract concentrations (10, 50%) than at 100% concentration. Cell viability was also influenced by leachable size. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2007