Investigation of Microwave Sintering of B-Type Carbonated Hydroxyapatite Bioceramics

B-type carbonated hydroxyapatite (CBHA) is potentially an excellent biodegradable bioceramic for bone repair. However, conventional sintering results in formation of undesired phases. Therefore, microwave sintering of CBHA was investigated to assess the possibility to reduce formation of unwanted phases. Pellets with 0.8 mol% of B-type carbonate were sintered in a multimode instrumented cavity under static air with short thermal cycles. They were prepared from a CBHA powder alone and from a mixture of CBHA and carbon powder to generate a local in-situ CO2 atmosphere. XRD, FT-IR, SEM and BET analyses indicated that CBHA densification with increase temperature lead to decomposition into apatite. The addition of carbon powder to the CBHA that generate a CO2-rich atmosphere around the samples did not prevent the decomposition. Efficient control of temperature and atmosphere composition is required to improve microwave sintering of CBHA bioceramics.