Preparation and characterization of hydroxyapatite/calcium phosphate powders

The preparation of calcium phosphate based powders through chemical precipitation in order to determine the optimum conditions for the preparation of stoichiometric, thermally stable hydroxyapatite (HA) powders was investigated in this work. The effects of parameters like pH, aging time, and heat treatment temperature on the phase structure and morphology of the powders were investigated by SEM and XRD.HA was prepared at a Ca/P ratio of 1.67. The precipitation pH had a profound influence on the morphology and crystallite size of the powders in the 4-11 pH range. Relatively large 5 mum prismatic particles were obtained at low pH whereas the powders were formed from agglomerates of nano sized particles at high pH. Powders had a HA dominant phase structure above a pH of 8. Phase pure HA powders were obtained with close to theoretical yields at pH = 10 and 11. The crystallite sizes of the powders varied from about 30 nm at 90degreesC to 50-90 mn at 1250degreesC with the smallest crystallite sizes obtained for pH 10 and 11 powders at 1250degreesC. The crystallite size increased significantly with aging temperature.