Liquid Phase Sintered Ceramic Bone Scaffolds by Combined Laser and Furnace

Abstract

Fabrication of mechanically competent bioactive scaffolds is a great challenge in bone tissue engineering. In this paper, β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) scaffolds were successfully fabricated by selective laser sintering combined with furnace sintering. Bioglass 45S5 was introduced in the process as liquid phase in order to improve the mechanical and biological properties. The results showed that sintering of β-TCP with the bioglass revealed some features of liquid phase sintering. The optimum amount of 45S5 was 5 wt %. At this point, the scaffolds were densified without defects. The fracture toughness, compressive strength and stiffness were 1.67 MPam1/2, 21.32 MPa and 264.32 MPa, respectively. Bone like apatite layer was formed and the stimulation for apatite formation was increased with increase in 45S5 content after soaking in simulated body fluid, which indicated that 45S5 could improve the bioactivity. Furthermore, MG-63 cells adhered and spread well, and proliferated with increase in the culture time.

Porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds fabricated from nano-sized powder via honeycomb extrusion

“…Previous work has also sought to combine HA with phosphate-based glass, and the compressive strength and porosity thereof are comparable to that obtained herein [497,498]. Similarly, BG has been combined with other bioceramics, such as β-TCP and calcium sulphate, which have attained compressive strengths below that obtained in this study [290,499,500]. By far the most promising work was by , wherein 10 wt% BG was added to calcium silicate resulted in compressive strengths comparable to that of bone [456].…”

3D printing magnesium-doped wollastonite/β-TCP bioceramics scaffolds with high strength and adjustable degradation

“…However, the CSi-Mg/TCP20 and CSi-Mg/TCP30 scaffolds treated by two-step sintering all showed an undersintering, and thus small open pores were retained and the fracture struts displayed a low degree of densification in the bioceramics, implying TSS is an efficient approach to control the grain growth but inefficient to improve the densification and mechanical strength of the 3D printed, TCP-rich, CSi-Mg/TCPx ceramics. Totally, the compressive strengths of the CSi-Mg/TCPx scaffolds undergoing OSS or TSS sintering were significantly higher than other bioceramic scaffolds fabricated by similar AMMs [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] (Fig. 7).…”

Ceramics and ceramic coatings in orthopaedics

“…Higher powder bed densities result in higher density parts. Using the direct SLS method, Feng et al added 45S5 glass into ␤-tricalcium phosphate (which provided the necessary lowtemperature liquid) to form complex bone scaffolds [639]. These were subsequently conventionally sintered to near full-density, yielding excellent mechanical properties and favorable biocompatibility.…”