Crystallization and Sinterability Behavior of Bioresorbable CaO-P2O5-Na2O-TiO2 Glass Ceramics for Bone Regeneration Application

Some types of glass and glass ceramics have a great potential for making bone tissue engineering scaffolds, drug carrier and bone cements as they can bond to host bone, stimulate bone cells toward osteogenesis, and resorb at the same time as the bone is repaired. Calcium phosphate glass ceramics have very attractive properties that allow them to use in bone tissue engineering. Calcium phosphate glasses could be used for the fabrication of resorbable constructs, with controlled biodegradability. This work was investigated crystallization and sinterability of biodegradable glass ceramics in the CaO–P2O5–Na2O–TiO2 system using differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Sinterability of the glasses also was investigated by measurement of sintering parameters. Different thermal treatments were applied to control the degree of devitrification of glasses. In the developed glass ceramics Ca2P2O7 were the first phase to precipitate in the mother glass structure, followed by Ca(PO3)2 and TiP2O7 at elevated temperature. Ca2P2O7 and Ca(PO3)2 seem to have a very positive effect in bone formation in vivo. It is therefore expected that glass ceramics understudy have good potential to be used for bone regeneration applications.