COATING OF HYDROXYAPATITE ON HIGHLY POROUS AL2O3 SUBSTRATE FOR BONE SUBSTITUTES

A thin film of hydroxyapatite (HA) was successfully coated onto a high ly porous substrate of alumina by using a novel solution technique, Th e coated HA bonded strongly to the substrate through a glass sintering aid with an intermediate thermal expansion coefficient, The coating w as also found to be microstructurally and chemically uniform on the su rfaces of the interconnected pores in the matrix of the substrate, Mec hanical property testing results showed that the strength of the HA-co ated composite was significantly improved, indicating a high potential for structural bone substitutes in hard tissue prosthetics, (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.