Bulletin of Materials Science

, Volume 35, Issue 4, pp 701–706 | Cite as

Growth, spectral, structural and mechanical properties of struvite crystal grown in presence of sodium fluoride

Article
First Online:
Received:
Revised:

Abstract

Struvite or magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate (MAP) is one of the components of urinary stone. Struvite stones are commonly found in women. It forms in human beings as a result of urinary tract infection with urea splitting organisms. These stones can grow rapidly forming “staghorn-calculi”, which is a painful urological disorder. Therefore, it is of prime importance to study the growth and inhibition of struvite crystals. The growth inhibition effect of struvite crystals in sodium metasilicate (SMS) gel in the presence of sodium fluoride has been carried out. Crystals obtained have been analysed by powder and single crystal XRD, SEM–EDX, FTIR and TG–DTA. The results show that the presence of fluoride significantly affects struvite crystal growth and the characteristics of the crystallites produced. The mechanical property of the grown crystals has been investigated by Vickers microhardness testing. Work hardening coefficient was found to be >1·6 for both pure and doped samples which suggests that the crystal belongs to the family of soft material. Presence of sodium fluoride further softened the crystal.

Keywords

Struvite crystallization SEM EDX FTIR microhardness 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

One of the authors (KS) acknowledges Dr EK Girija, Periyar University, for valuable suggestions.

References

  1. Banks E, Chianelli R and Korenstein R 1975 Inorg. Chem. 14 1634CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Benramdane L, Bouatia M, Idrissi M O B and Draoui M 2008 Spectrosc. Lett. 41 72CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Bichler K H, Eipper E, Naber K, Braun V, Zimmermann R and Lahme S 2002 Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents 19 488CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Chauhan C K and Joshi M J 2008 Urol. Res. 36 265CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Cohen N P and Whitfield H N 1993 World J Urol. 11 13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Frost R L, Weier M L and Erickson K L 2004 J. Therm. Anal. Cal. 76 1025CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Jones A G 2002 Crystallization process system (Heinenann, UK: Butterworth)Google Scholar
  8. Kalkura S N, Vaidyan V K, Kanakavel M and Ramasamy P 1993 J. Cryst. Growth 132 617CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Kaloustian J, Pauli A M, Pieroni G and Portuagal H 2002 J. Therm. Anal. Cal. 70 959CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Kanchana P and Sekar C 2010 J. Cryst. Growth 312 808CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Lerner S P, Gleeson M J and Griffith D P 1989 J. Urol. 141 753Google Scholar
  12. Onitsch E M 1998 Mikroskopie 95 12Google Scholar
  13. Ryu H D, Kim D and Lee S I 2008 J. Hazard. Mater. 156 163CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Sekar C, Kanchana P, Nithyaselvi R and Girija E K 2009 Mater. Chem. Phys. 115 21CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Stefov V, Soptrajanov B, Kuzmanovski I, Lutz H D and Engelen B 2005 J. Mol. Struct. 752 60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Stefov V, Soptrajanov B, Najdoski M, Engelen B and Lutz H D 2008 J. Mol. Struct. 872 87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Wierzbicki A, Sallis, J D, Stevens E D, Smith M and Sikes C S 1997 Calcif. Tissue Int. 61 216CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Indian Academy of Sciences 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Bioelectronics and BiosensorsAlagappa UniversityKaraikudiIndia
  2. 2.Department of PhysicsSri Sarada College for WomenSalemIndia
  3. 3.Department of PhysicsPeriyar UniversitySalemIndia

Personalised recommendations