Thermal stability and sintering behaviour of hydroxyapatite nanopowders

Hydroxyapatite (HA) nanopowders were synthesised following two different precipitation routes: (a) from calcium nitrate and diammonium hydrogen phosphate solutions and (b) from calcium hydroxide suspension and phosphoric acid solution. The influence of precipitation process, concentration, and synthesis temperature on HA particle size and morphology, phase composition, thermal stability, and sintering behaviour was investigated by means of: thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), induced coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron microscopy (TEM, SEM) and dilatometry.