Metal injection molding technique has been developed for preparing dental implants, in which hydroxyapatite granules are dispersed uniformly in titanium matrix phase. The mechanical strengths of processed implants decreased with increase in the amount of doped apatite. The implants with apatite less then 1mass% have bending strength of 600-900MPa, tensile strength of 250-550MPa, and compressive strength of 400-500MPa, which are almost comparable to the natural tooth. The dispersibility of doped apatite within the implant has been characterized by using a dispersibility index deduced from the information theory. The implants with apatite of more than 0.6mass% show its average dispersibility larger than 0.92, based on the image data observed under an optical microscope.
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