Formation and Characterization of Bone-like Nanoscale Hydroxyapatite in Glass Bone Cement

Glass based bone cement (GBC) was synthesized by mixing CaO-SiO2-P2O5 based glass powder with ammonium phosphate liquid medium. Bone-like hydroxyapatite (HAP, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) was found to form after GBC was immersed in simulated body fluid (SBF). HAP crystal grew with an increasing time along c axle and reached about 200 nm in length after 30 days, however, the end plane granularity remained 30～50 nm. The chemical composition, crystal structure and morphology of HAP formed from GBC were proved to have great resemblance with living HAP.It is believed that GBC was a desirable biomedical material with high bioactivity. Furthermore, the high compressive strength guaranteed the possibility of GBC in clinical application.