Microstructure and Properties of the Composites: Hydroxyapatite With Addition of Zirconia Phase

The group of bioceramics includes hydroxyapatites, which, due to their specific properties, are widely used in biotechnology. These compounds exist in skeletons of human and animal bodies. A range of advantages of implants, which contain, among other things, hydroxyapatites, results also from the level of their porosity. Recent trends that focus on the improvement in poor strength properties of HA coatings include the introduction of solid solution of Y2O3 in ZrO2 (Khalil et al., 2007, “Consolidation and Mechanical Properties of Nanostructured Hydroxyapatite Bioceramics by High Frequency Induction Heat Sintering,” Mater. Sci. Eng., 456, pp. 368–372; Chevalier et al., 2004, “Critical Effect of Cubic Phase on Aging in 3 mol % Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Ceramics for Hip Replacement Prothesis,” Biomaterials, 25, pp. 5539–5545; Inuzuka et al., 2004, “Hydroxyapatite-Deped Zirconia for Preparation of Biomedical Composites Ceramics,” Solid State Ionics, 172, pp. 509–513; Sung, Y. M., and Kim, D. H., 2003, “Crystallization Characteristics of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia/Hydroxyapatite Composite Nanopowder,” J. Cryst. Growth, 254, pp. 411–417; Marciniak, J., 2002, Biomateriały, Wydawnictwo Politechniki Śląskiej, Gliwice, Poland; Park J., and Bronzino J. D., 2000, Biomaterials, CRC, Boca Raton, FL; Yoshida et al., 2006, “Fabrication of Structure-Controlled Hydroxyapatite/Zirconia Composite,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., 26, pp. 515–518). It seems essential to determine the resulting structural and strength properties in the aspect of further application of composites based on hydroxyapatite with the addition of the zirconia phase. The investigations involved ceramic composites based on HA with different amounts of the phase modified with ZrO2 yttrium dioxide.