The work is devoted to investigation of porous glass-ceramic composite
materials on the basis of biogenic hydroxyapatite and sodium borosilicate
glass prepared from starting powders with different particle sizes (<50 ?m
and <160 ?m). Starting hydroxyapatite/glass weight ratio was 1.0/0.46 and
sintering temperature was ~800?C. Microstructural characterization of the
surface and fracture of the samples revealed a decrease in sizes of grains
and pores with decreasing the particle size of the precursor powder.
However, porosity of the composites practically did not depend on the
particle size and was equal to 32.5-33.0%. The same tendency was observed
for the compression strength (66-67MPa). However, investigation of
structural-mechanical properties using an indentation method, where dominant
load is applied to the surface layers of sample, showed up the effect of the
particle size of the starting powder on the mechanical properties of the
composites: the smaller particle size, the higher mechanical properties.