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Optimization of Bioglass ® Scaffold Fabrication Process
Author(s) -
Chen Qizhi,
Mohn Dirk,
Stark Wendelin J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2011.04766.x
Subject(s) - sintering , fabrication , materials science , slurry , coating , replication (statistics) , scaffold , particle (ecology) , dip coating , particle size , composite material , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , biomedical engineering , medicine , statistics , alternative medicine , mathematics , oceanography , engineering , pathology , geology
The production of mechanically reliable scaffolds from bioceramics for use in bone tissue engineering remains challenging. This paper describes the establishment of optimal processing parameters of Bioglass ® scaffolds using the replication/slurry‐dip‐coating technique, based on theoretical design and experimental investigation. The foams fabricated under the optimized conditions, i.e., 5–20 μm particles and sintering at 1000°C–1100°C for 1–2 h, showed reproducible mechanical properties that could be predicted by Gibson and Ashby's theory. Excessively small (nano‐sized) or overly large (>30 μm) particles both resulted in poor quality scaffolds with unsatisfactory mechanical performance, due to a high population of microcracks in struts and poor fusion between particles during sintering, respectively. In conclusion, a mechanically reliable scaffold can be achieved using Bioglass ® and the replication/slurry‐dip‐coating technique, provided that the particle size of the Bioglass powder is within the range of 5–20 μm and an appropriate sintering program (1000°C–1100°C, 1–2 h) is used.