Microwave-processed nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite: Simultaneous enhancement of mechanical and biological properties

Abstract

Despite excellent bioactivity of hydroxyapatite (HA) ceramics, poor mechanical strength has limited its applications primarily to coatings and other non-load bearing areas as bone grafts. Using synthesized HA nanopowder, dense compacts with grain sizes in nanometers to micrometers were processed via microwave sintering between 1000 and 1150 °C for 20 minutes. Here we demonstrate that mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, hardness and indentation fracture toughness of HA compacts increased with a decrease in grain size. HA with 168± 86 nm grain size showed the highest compressive strength of 395±42 MPa, hardness of 8.4±0.4 GPa and indentation fracture toughness of 1.9 ±0.2 MPam1/2. To study the in vitro biological properties, HA compacts with grain size between 168 nm and 1.16 µm were assessed for in vitro bone cell-materials interactions with human osteoblast cell line. Vinculin protein expression for cell attachment and bone cell proliferation using MTT assay showed surfaces with finer grains provided better bone cell-materials interactions than coarse grained samples. Our results indicate simultaneous improvements in mechanical and biological properties in microwave sintered HA compacts with nanoscale grain size.