title: The influence of sintering conditions on microstructure and mechanical properties of titanium dioxide scaffolds for the treatment of bone tissue defects.
abstract: In this study the attempts to improve mechanical properties of highly-porous titanium dioxide scaffolds produced by polymer sponge replication method were investigated. Particularly the effect of two-step sintering at different temperatures on microstructure and mechanical properties (compression test) of the scaffolds were analysed. To this end microcomputed tomography and scanning electron microscopy were used as analytical methods. Our experiments showed that the most appropriate conditions of manufacturing were when the scaffolds were heat-treated at 1500 °C for 1 h followed by sintering at 1200 °C for 20 h. Such scaffolds exhibited the highest compressive strength which was correlated with the highest linear density and the lowest size of grains. Moreover, grain size distribution was narrower with predominating fraction of fine grains 10-20 μm in size. Smaller grains and higher linear density sug- gested that in this case densification process prevailed over undesirable process of grain coarsening, which finally resulted in im- proved mechanical properties of the scaffolds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomaterials, Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland.|Department of Biomaterials, Institute for Clinical Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Łucja
authors.initials: Ł
authors.lastname: Rumian
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomaterials, Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland.|Department of Biomaterials, Institute for Clinical Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reczyńska
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Automatics, Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wrona
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomaterials, Institute for Clinical Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tiainen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomaterials, Institute for Clinical Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Håvard J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Haugen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomaterials, Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Elżbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pamuła
mesh_terms: D001861:Bone Regeneration; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry; D019245:Compressive Strength; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D011140:Polyurethanes / Q000737:chemistry; D016062:Porosity; D011208:Powders; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D011140:Polyurethanes; D011208:Powders; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium