Substitution of Iron in Preparation of Enhanced Thermal Property and Bioactivity of Hydroxyapatite

Incorporation of Iron into hydroxyapatite (HAp) has generated a novel material for which their properties differ from those of conventional HAp. Although XRD indicated that the as-prepared iron-substituted hydroxyapatite (HApFe) is of a single crystalline phase similar to that of HAp, we found that carbonate ions can incorporate in the HApFe structure 3 times better than in HAp. As results, HApFe possesses the Vickers microhardness about 1.5 times higher than that of HAp. Thermal behaviors and bioactivity of HApFe are discussed in comparison to those of HAp. Various experimental methods have been employed in this work including powder XRD, IR, SEM, DSC/TGA and Vickers Hardness testing.