Sintered hydroxyfluorapatites. Part III: Sintering and resultant mechanical properties of sintered blends of hydroxyapatite and fluorapatite

The presence of chemically dissimilar apatites occurs widely in biological systems as a result of exposure to chemically enriched media, but also to optimize the mechanical properties. The use of mechanical blends of apatites can be used to manufacture high temperature processed fluoride containing hydroxyapatites with improved properties. Mechanical blends of fluorapatite and hydroxyapatite were produced with 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% fluorapatite. Pellets were sintered at 1150°C, 1200°C and 1250°C and the density determined by the Archimedes method. Mechanical properties including hardness, elastic modulus and fracture toughness were measured using indentation. It was found that mechanical blends of 150 nm sized hydroxyapatite and 300 nm sized fluorapatite lead to solid solutions after sintering. The mechanical blends do not sinter as effectively as homogeneous hydroxyfluorapatite solid solutions and exhibit a minimum density at 80 wt.% fluorapatite. The hardness, elastic modulus and brittleness decreases with a higher flourapatite content, attributed primarily to a decrease in density. The higher fracture toughness for mechanical blends indicates that these materials are more crack resistant and provide a means for improving mechanical properties.