Sanchita Bandyopadhyay (PhD student 2002-2005)
The Development of Canasite Glass-Ceramic Bone Substitutes
Fluorcanasites are quadruple chain silicate glass- ceramic, have a highly crystalline microstructure of interpenetrating laths that give rise to high flexural strength (>300 MPa) and fracture toughness (>5 MPa m-2). Early commercial compositions were bioinert or even irritant to bone tissue (da Rocha Barros et al. 2002). In the same year, Miller et al. demonstrated that the addition of excess CaO and P2O5 to the stoichiometric (Ca5Na4K2Si12O30F4) composition induced the early formation of an apatite layer in simulated body fluid. However, no quantitative data regarding their biocompatibility has been published to date, and knowledge of structure-property relationships in these materials remains limited.
The aim of this research was therefore to further characterise these modified fluorcanasite glass-ceramics after controlled two stage heat-treatment and to compare their in vitro biocompatibility with parent and commercial bioactive glasses. Properties of the fluorcanasite glass and glass-ceramics including ion release were also studied and the data related to biocompatibility.
Supervisor(s): Prof. Ian M Brook, Prof Paul Hatton and Prof Ian Reaney (Engineering Materials)