Abstract
the preliminary work on the prepartion of fine hydroxyapatite powder and the synthesis of dense hydroxyapatite ceramic from the powder were investigated for the development of artificial bone and tooth materials for implants. The effects of the process variables such as compositions of the raw materials the initial pH of the solutions and sintering temperature on the physical properties were investigated in order to determine the optimum conditions for the fabrication of tooth implant material. As the initial pH of the solutions was increased in the range of 10-11.6 the initial particle size of precipitates was decreased thus the sinterability of precipitates was improved. It was found that the composition of calcium rich of 1.75 in Ca/P mole ratio exhibited better sinterability and mechanical strength of the apatite ceramics for example the highest value of Vicker's hardness obtained from the compositions of 1.75 in Ca/P mole ratio was 764±30 Kg/mm2 compared to the maximum value of 600 kg/mm2 obtained from the compositions of 1.67 in Ca/P mole ratio.