ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Apatite-wollastonite containing glass-ceramic (AWGC) is a kind of good bone repairing materials with excellent bioactivity, which is prepared by traditional melting process.OBJECTIVE: To observe AWGC prepared with sol-gel method and its bioactivity.DESIGN: Design experiment of materials process and in vitro bioactivity experiment.SETTING: College of materials science and Engineering of Sichuan University.MATERIALS: AWGC.METHODS: This experiment was conducted at the laboratory of College of Materials Science and Engineering of Sichuan University between August 2002 and May 2003. AWGC was prepared from sol-gel and followed by heattreating process. Bioactivity was investigated in vitro by immersing in the simulate body fluid (SBF) at 37 ℃ for 7 days . JL-1155 laser particle analyzer, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope were used for micro-morphological structure analysis.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ①The crystalline structure and microstructure of sol-gel derived glass-ceramic② The apatite forming process in simulate body fluid③ The diameter of the pore of the sol-gel derived apatite/wollastonite glass-ceramicRESULTS: ①Main crystalline phases of the sol-gel derived glass-ceramic materials were hydroxyapatite/fluoroapatite [Ca10(PO4)6(OH, F)] and β-wollastonite[β-CaSiO3]; Microstructure contained many micro-pores of 2-3μ m;② Sol-gel derived AW glass ceramic had excellent bioactivity: plenty of apatite granules were generated on the surface of the material after soaking for 7 days. ③Porous scaffolds possessed good macro-porous structure with the interconnected macro pores of 300-400 μm in diameter;CONCLUSION: Apatite-wollastonite containing glass-ceramic (AWGC)with excellent bioactivity was developed by sol-gel process. The material is expected to be a good candidate for bone-repairing and bone tissue engineering scaffold materials.