Coating of hydroxyapatite on porous alumina substrate through a thermal decomposition method

A thin film of hydroxyapatite (HA) was uniformly coated onto a highly porou s substrate of alumina through the thermal decomposition method, Calcium 2- ethyl hexanoate and bis(2-ethyhexyl) phosphite were used as starting materi als, Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction. and infrared spectros copy were used to characterize the chemical and structural evolution of the coating, rn vitro tests were conducted to evaluate the reactivity of the s ynthetic HA,It was found that the sintering process greatly influenced the in vitro behavior of HA. High temperature sintering may reduce the reactivi ty of HA, suggesting that the reactivity is structure dependent. (C) 1999 J ohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.