CHU Xinhong ¹ ,ZHAO Ping ¹, SUN Kangning ²,REN Xuehua ¹ ,FENG Zhiqiang ¹

(1. College of Material Science and Engineering, Shandong Institute of Light Industry, Jinan 250353; 2. Shandong University, Jinan 250106)

Abstract: Objective: In order to take advantage of excellent performances of β-TCP, we did certain experiments to determine the appropriate hardening liquid to make β-tricalcium phosphate present bone cement performances, which has not hydrating property. Then β-TCP is able to solidify and get hard in human environment and then presents a certain degree of strength.After that we did comparison research between β and α-tricalcium phosphate bone cements as well as their composite materials with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Method: Prepare hardening liquid such as dilute phosphoric acid, citric acid, sodium citrate and so on, which are mixed with β-tricalcium phosphate powder individually. Then measure the slurry's pH value, initial setting time and the final setting time, and so on. After getting the β-tricalcium phosphate bone cement and its carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composite, we prepared Ф6mm × 12mm cylindrical samples and 4mm × 4mm × 25mm strip samples to test their compressive strength, bending strength, porosity, and other mechanical properties, and to observe coagulum transects by SEM. Then the items of α-tricalcium phosphate bone cement material were contrasted with those of β-tricalcium phosphate bone cement. Results: When taking citric acid as the hardening liquid, β-tricalcium phosphate bone cement presented self-setting and hardening performances similar to those of α-tricalcium phosphate bone cement; but the way that CNTs influence β-TCP bone cement materials' mechanical properties is different from the way of its affection to α-TCP bone cement materials', and what's more important, a "cage-shaped" structure was observed on the CNTs / β-TCP fracture transects.

Keywords: β-calcium phosphate, hardening liquid, bone cement