Influence of sintering temperatures on hardness and Young's modulus of tricalcium phosphate bioceramic by nanoindentation technique

Nanoindentation experiments on tricalcium phosphate (TCP) bioceramic sintered at different temperatures were performed with a Berkovich indenter for determining hardness and elastic modulus from load and displacement data. The hardness and Young's modulus increased with the increase of sintering temperature up to 1300 degreesC, but the Young's modulus decreased with the further increase of sintering temperatures at 1400 and 1500 degreesC. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that the transformation beta-->alpha-TCP happened when the sintering temperature reached around 1400 degreesC, which contributed to the decreases of modulus at 1400 and 1500 degreesC. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results showed that the sintering effect was improved with the increase in sintering temperature. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All fights reserved.