Low temperature preparation of α-tricalcium phosphate and its mechanical properties

Abstract

In this work, α-tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP) was successfully prepared by the thermal transformation of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) precursor. β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) was used for preparation of ACP precursor and played an important role in designing its special structure. The phase composition and microstructures of the obtained α-TCP at different annealing temperature were analysed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope, and confirmed that α-TCP can be prepared at 650°C for 3 h using ACP as precursor, which is much lower than the phase transition temperature of α-TCP. Mechanical properties were tested 24 h after mixing the obtained α-TCP with 30 wt.% of deionised water. The compressive strength and the flexural strength were 26.4MPa and 12.0MPa, respectively. The flexural strength was higher than that of α-TCP prepared by other methods.

Keywords

• α-tricalcium phosphate
• thermal transformation
• amorphous calcium phosphate
• β-cyclodextrin