title: Spark plasma sintered Al₂O₃-YSZ-TiO₂ composites: processing, characterization and in vivo evaluation.
abstract: Al2O3 and Al2O3-YSZ composites containing 3 and 5 wt.% TiO2 were prepared by spark plasma sintering at temperatures of 1350-1400°C for 300s under a pressure of 40 MPa. The grain growth of alumina was suppressed by the addition of YSZ. Al2O3-YSZ composites showed higher hardness than monolithic Al2O3. There was not a considerable difference in hardness values for Al2O3-YSZ composites containing 10 and 20 vol.% YSZ and the addition of TiO2 decreased the hardness of the composites. The fracture toughness of Al2O3 increased from 2.8 MPa·m(1/2) to 4.3 MPa·m(1/2) with the addition of 10vol.% YSZ, further addition resulted in higher fracture toughness values. The fracture toughness values were increased with TiO2 addition and the highest value of fracture toughness, 5.3 MPa·m(1/2), was achieved with the addition of 20 vol.% YSZ and 5 wt.% TiO2. Preliminary in vivo tests demonstrated the biocompatibility and osseointegration of the composites after 6 week post-implantation in femur of Wistar rats.
authors.affiliation: Istanbul Technical University, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozden
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ormanci
authors.affiliation: Istanbul Technical University, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ipek
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Akin
authors.affiliation: Istanbul Technical University, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Filiz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.affiliation: Istanbul Technical University, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Onuralp
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yucel
authors.affiliation: Babes-Bolyai University, Biomedical Physics Department, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Viorica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.affiliation: University of Oradea, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, 410068 Oradea, Romania.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cavalu
authors.affiliation: Istanbul Technical University, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: goller@itu.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Gultekin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Goller
mesh_terms: D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005269:Femur / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D006244:Hardness; D006358:Hot Temperature; D016348:Osseointegration / Q000187:drug effects; D011312:Pressure; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D015019:Yttrium / Q000737:chemistry*; D015040:Zirconium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; C009495:titanium dioxide; D015019:Yttrium; D015040:Zirconium; D014025:Titanium; D000537:Aluminum Oxide; C028541:zirconium oxide; C091417:yttria
keywords: Al(2)O(3); In vivo evaluation; Spark plasma sintering; TiO(2); YSZ