Hydroxyapatite ceramics prepared from two natural sources by direct thermal conversion: From material processing to mechanical measurements

Abstract

In this study, hydroxyapatite (HAp) was extracted from catfish bones (CB) and non-separated animal bones (NB). The bioceramic samples were prepared by a facile synthesis route and the representative scaffolds were prepared by cold compaction and sintered at 900 °C, 1000 °C and 1100 °C. To evaluate the properties of the produced HAp, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (FT-IR) analyses were carried out. The evaluation of the hardness of the representative bio-derived scaffolds was experimentally conducted while the fracture toughness and brittleness index were obtained by calculation using the hardness test parameters. The experimental data showed that as temperature increased up to 1000 °C for CB, there was a consequential increase in hardness, while for NB, hardness values reduced throughout the sintering regimes. These gradients in mechanical measurements are ascribed to phase changes during heat treatment.