Preparation of porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds

In this work, the sintering and grain growth of hydroxyapatite green bodies are analyzed in order to identify the optimum heat treatments for the preparation of porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds. Sintering in air at temperatures ranging between 1100 and 1200 degrees C yields dense materials with narrow grain-size distributions: The scaffolds are formed by the infiltration of polymer foams with hydroxyapatite slurries or by robocasting, a novel rapid-prototyping technique. Examples of the microstructures achieved with each approach are presented. It is observed that both techniques can be used to fabricate scaffolds with adequate pore size to promote bone ingrowth. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.