Journal of Biomimetics Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
Open Access

Research Article

Microwave Hybrid Processing of Hydroxyapatite

Ehsani N¹, Sorrell CC²and Ruys AJ^3*

¹Faculty of Materials and Manufacturing Technology, MUT University of Technology, Tehran 84817-75631, Iran

²Graduate School for Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

³Centre for Advanced Materials Technology, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

 

Corresponding Author:

Ruys AJ
Centre for Advanced Materials Technology
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
E-mail: Andrew.ruys@sydney.edu.au

Received date April 19, 2013; Accepted date April 19, 2013; Published date July 15, 2013

Citation: Ehsani N, Sorrell CC, Ruys AJ (2013) Microwave Hybrid Processing of Hydroxyapatite. J Biomim Biomater Tissue Eng 18:108. doi: 10.4172/1662-100X.1000108

Copyright: © 2013 Ehsani N, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

The effects of microwave hybrid heating on the densification and decomposition behaviour of four commercially available pre-calcined HAp powders (Plasma Biotal P81, P88, P120 and P149) and a bead milled HAp powder (BM16) were studied. The results were compared with conventionally sintered samples. Samples microwave heated to 1100°C for 10 min at 10,000°C.h-1 were 15 to 40% denser than the samples conventionally heated at same temperature for 60 min at 300°C.h-1. Microwave heating reduced densification temperatures and soak times by as much as ~150°C-200°C and ~57 min, respectively. Overall, the microwave sintering cycle was 20-30 times faster.