Microwave-assisted rapid discharge sintering of a bioactive glass–ceramic

Author： O’Flynn Kevin Twomey Barry Breen Aidan Dowling Denis Stanton Kenneth

ISSN： 0957-4530

Source： Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, Vol.22, Iss.7, 2011-07, pp. : 1625-1631

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

Bioactive glass–ceramics have been developed as successful bone graft materials. Although conventional sintering in an electrically-heated furnace is most commonly used, an alternative microwave plasma batch processing technique, known as rapid discharge sintering (RDS), is examined to crystallise the metastable base glass to form one or more ceramic phases. Apatite-mullite glass–ceramics (AMGC) were examined to elucidate the effects of RDS on the crystallization of a bioactive glass–ceramic. By increasing the fluorine content of the glass, the fluorapatite (FAp) and mullite crystallization onset temperatures can be reduced. Samples were sintered in a hydrogen and hydrogen/nitrogen discharge at temperatures of ≍800 and 1000°C respectively with the higher sintering temperature required to form mullite. Results show that the material can be densified and crystallised using RDS in a considerably shorter time than conventional sintering due to heating and cooling rates of ≍400°C/min.