Development of Porous Hydroxyapatite Ceramics with Well-Controlled Pore Sizes and Their Application to Hybrid-Material Fabrication

抄録

Porous hydroxyapatite (HAp) ceramics with well-controlled porosities and pore sizes were developed by firing apatite-fiber compacts with carbon beads and agar. The total porosities could be controlled in the range of 40 to 85 % by varying compaction pressures (20~40 MPa), firing temperatures (1000~1300^oC) and the carbon beads/HAp ratio [w/w] (0/10~10/10). The pore sizes of the porous HAp ceramics derived from the carbon beads with diameter of 150 μm distributed in the following two ranges: 100 μm over and micro-meter scales. The pore sizes were mainly affected by the carbon bead diameters (5, 20 and 150 μm) as well as compaction pressures and firing temperatures. Using the above porous HAp ceramics, dense HAp/PMMA (poly(methylmethaacrylate)) hybrid material with mechanical properties similar to those of human cortical bone could be fabricated by bulk polymerization of MMA monomers without solvents.