title: Fabrication and mechanical testing of porous calcium phosphate bioceramic granules.
abstract: Porous hydroxyapatite/tricalcium phosphate (HA/TCP) granules were fabricated by a novel technique of vacuum impregnation of reticulated polyurethane (PU) foams with ceramic slip. The resultant granules had 5-10% interconnected porosity with controlled pore sizes necessary to allow bone ingrowth combined with good mechanical properties. Using PU foams with a different number of pores per inch (ppi), porous HA/TCP granules in the size range of 2-8 mm were successfully manufactured. Dieplunger tests were used to compare the compression and relaxation properties of the granules with those of a commercially available bone graft product, BoneSave. The results of the die-plunger testing showed that the experimental granules were stiffer than the BoneSave materials and had less of a tendency to crumble to powder after testing. This therefore suggests that these experimental granules would be useful for impaction grafting and space filling applications.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Orthopaedic Biomechanics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: I G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Miles
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001843:Bone Cements / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D002130:Calcium Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002516:Ceramics / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D019245:Compressive Strength; D017886:Durapatite / Q000737:chemistry; D004548:Elasticity; D008422:Materials Testing; D008863:Microspheres; D008954:Models, Biological; D016062:Porosity; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001843:Bone Cements; D002130:Calcium Phosphates; D017886:Durapatite; C020243:calcium phosphate; C018392:tricalcium phosphate