2005 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 136-137
Fb-Tricalcium phosphate (β-Ca3(PO4)2: β-TCP) is one of the most biocompatible materials with human bones and teeth. The difference in microstructure has a large effect on the reaction of β-TCP in vivo. Therefore micro-pores, as well as macro-pores, must be controlled for porous material design, although the size of micro-pores is too small for cells.
In this paper, porous granules of β-TCP with micro-pores of about 0.1 mm in size were prepared from porous hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 : HA) granules with calcium deficient composition synthesized by hydrothermal method. The β-TCP granules with about 40%-60% porosity were composed of rod-shaped particles of about 10-20 mm in length. Rod-shaped particles were locked together to make micro-pores, and the size of micro-pores formed by tangling of rod-shaped particles was about 0.1-0.5 mm. The particle size, shape, and the micro-pore size were controlled by our unique method.