Some studies on calcium phosphate embedded in polyvinyl alcohol matrix before and after γ-irradiation

The Ca-P ratio in polymer matrix was adjusted to 1.67 as in hydroxyapatite. The complexed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) materials exhibit the characteristic absorption bands of phosphate at 601 and 962 cm(-1) indicating the presence of (HPO4)(-1) anions in the structure. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that the reaction between Ca and P ions in the PVA medium has a great effect on polymeric matrix crystallization. After irradiation, XRD results for sample c showed more sharp peaks indicating that irradiation can break the principal chemical bonds and favoring additional crystallization processes and therefore the crystallinity increases. An improvement in the thermal stability of PVA doped with calcium phosphate could be seen with the increase of calcium phosphate intercalated with PVA. The surfaces of films were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) before and after gamma-irradiation. The formation of hydroxyapatite is confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX analysis). The electric conduction data were interpreted on the basis of an intrachain one-dimensional interpolaron hopping model of Kuivalainen. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.