Abstract
This study presents the feasibility of using animal bone-derived hydroxyapatite (HAP) as feedstock powders for plasma spraying. Bovine, cervine and ovine bone from abattoirs was boiled in a pressure cooker to remove blood, fat and adhering meat tissue. The bone was then placed in a muffler furnace, pyrolyzed at approximately 1000 °C to remove collagen and residual organics, cooled and subsequently ground to a powder then digested in nitric acid. Sodium hydroxide was added to the digest to reprecipitate the HAP. Ageing of the precipitate followed by filtration, extensive washing and drying produced the white powder used as the feedstock. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the powder to be poorly crystalline HAP with low-level carbonate. Out of several batches of the sieved powders, one batch was plasma sprayed to produce adherent HAP coatings; therefore, demonstrating that animal bone-derived HAP powders can be seriously considered as a feedstock powder, subject to the powder being processed for the correct rheological characteristics for easy flowing within the plasma spray flow lines. The phase composition of the successful plasma sprayed HAP coatings on both stainless steel and titanium were found by XRD to be mainly HAP with minor contributions from α-tricalcium phosphate, tetra-calcium phosphate and CaO; therefore, demonstrating that feedstock decomposition on its passage through the plasma spray torch was insignificant under the conditions employed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs of the coatings indicated that their morphology featured the classical heterogeneous and splat-like appearance expected of plasma sprayed coatings. Young's modulus and Vicker's microhardness tests conducted on the coatings revealed values in the range, respectively, 22–87 GPa and 166–287 (HV200) indicating high strength plasma spray HAP coatings had been produced from the feedstock powder. (Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Biomechanics 2004; 2: 96–104)