Sol–gel derived alumina–hydroxyapatite–tricalcium phosphate porous composite powders

Abstract In this study, alumina–hydroxyapatite–tricalcium phosphate (α-Al 2 O 3 –HA–TCP) porous composite powders were produced and characterized. At first, boehmite sol (AlOOH) was obtained via sol–gel process by using aluminium isopropoxide (Al(OC 3 H 7 ) 3 ) as the starting material. Bovine hydroxyapatite (BHA) powders derived from deproteinized bovine bones were added as 10, 20, 30 and 50% weight of the starting material to each boehmite sol. Also Na-alginate was added to the boehmite sol as the dispersive agent. Subsequently, gelation for 3 h at 110 °C was applied to each sol mixture. Finally, gelated samples were heat treated for 2 h at 500, 800, 1000 and 1300 °C. DTA–TGA, XRD, FTIR and SEM-EDS analyses were used to characterize the obtained composite powders composed of α-Al 2 O 3 –HA–TCP phases. In order to investigate porosity properties, powders were pressed with hydraulic manual press and formed into pellets. Later these pellets were sintered for 2 h at 1300 °C. Apparent porosity and bulk density tests were applied to the pellets. The evaluation of these tests results indicate that a novel α-Al 2 O 3 –HA–TCP composite material with ∼38–44% apparent porosity has been produced.