Abstract
The effect of β-calcium orthophosphate (β-Ca3(PO4)2:β-TCP) addition (1 ∼ 20 mass%) on the high-temperature plastic deformation of hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2:HAp) ceramic specimen was examined. The high-density HAp ceramic body with β-TCP addition, which was composed of submicrometer-sized grains, was fabricated by pulse-current pressure firing at a temperature between 900 and 1050°C for 10 min under a pressure of 50 MPa. The relative densities of HAp ceramics with 1 to 20 mass% β-TCP addition fabricated by pulse-current pressure firing at 1000°C for 10 min exceeded 99%; the grain sizes increased from 0.2 to 0.3 μm with increasing β-TCP addition from 0 to 10 mass% and then steeply to 0.9 μm with increasing β-TCP addition from 10 to 20 mass%. The tensile strain of the HAp specimen with 1 mass% β-TCP addition pulse-current pressure fired at 1000°C for 10 min achieved a maximum of 390% for a test temperature of 1000°C and a strain rate of 1.48 × 10-4 s-1, compared to 364% for the monolithic HAp specimen.
