• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.334-339
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• 2004

Microstructures and mechanical properties of SPSed monolithic HAp, HAp-Ag, and HAp-ZrO$_2$sintered bodies were investigated by the XRD, SEM, and TEM techniques. The nano-sized HAp powders were successfully synthesized by precipitation of Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$4$H_2O$ and (NH$_4$)HPO$_4$solution. In the HAp-Ag composite, the shrinkage cavities were observed at the interfaces between HAp and large sized Ag particles due to the mismatch of their thermal expansion coefficients. However, no found the defect at the interfaces between HAp and fine-sized Ag particles. In the HAp-ZrO$_2$composite. nano-sized ZrO$_2$particles were almost dispersed at the grain boundaries of HAp phase. The fracture toughness of HAp-Ag and HAp-ZrO$_2$ composites were increased due to the plastic deformation and phase transformation mechanisms of the dispersed fine Ag and ZrO$_2$phase in the HAp matrix, respectively.