Thermal analysis and high-temperature X-ray diffraction of nano-tricalcium phosphate crystallization

Abstract

Calcium phosphate biomaterials have long ago attracted the interest of world-wide scientists because they form the main inorganic constituent of the human bones and teeth. Classical approaches to synthesize this ceramic material did not give satisfactory results until present, so new approaches are required. In this article the tricalcium phosphate achievement by a method which is a combination of sol–gel and classic precipitation from solution is presented, starting from CaCl₂ as calcium precursor and H₃PO₄ as phosphorus precursor, without pH adjustment. The reaction mixture was allowed to maturate for 2 months, the time influence on the precipitated material being presented in previous articles. Present studies aimed at the influence of temperature on the structural characteristics of precipitated and maturated material, by means of thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and high-temperature X-ray diffraction. A complex type thermal decomposition takes place while heating the sample to 1000 °C, with superposed and parallel processes. The sample goes through alternative amorphous and crystalline stages before final crystallization of β-tricalcium phosphate takes place. The high-temperature XRD studies offered the great advantage of being both a synthesis and a physico-chemical characterization technique, which along with thermal analysis and infrared spectroscopy, gave a lot of useful information in a very short time.