Microstructure and characteristics of the metal-ceramic composite (MgCa-HA/TCP) fabricated by liquid metal infiltration

In this article, a novel MgCa alloy-hydroxyapatite-tricalcium phosphate (HA/TCP) composite was fabricated using the liquid alloy infiltration technique. The feasibility of the composite for biomedical applications was studied through mechanical testing, electrochemical testing, immersion testing, and cell culture evaluation. It was shown that the composite had a strength about 200-fold higher than that of the original porous HA/TCP scaffold but retained half of the strength of the bulk MgCa alloy. The corrosion test indicated that the resulting composite exhibited an average corrosion rate of 0.029 mL cm(-2) h(-1) in the Hank's solution at 37 degrees C, which was slower than that of the bulk MgCa alloy alone. The indirect cytotoxicity evaluation revealed that 100% concentrated (i.e., undiluted or as-collected) extract of the MgCa-HA/TCP composite showed significant toxicity to L-929 and MG63 cells (p < 0.05). In contrast, the diluted extracts with 50 and 10% concentrations of the MgCa-HA/TCP composite exhibited a similar degree of cell viability (p > 0.05), equivalent to the grade I cytotoxicity of the standard ISO 10993-5: 1999. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 99B: 127-134, 2011.