Abstract
Hydroxyapatite (HAp) powders with different crystallinities were synthesized at various calcination temperatures through the co-precipitation of $Ca(OH)_2$ and $H_3PO_4$. The degradation behavior of these HAp powders with different crystallinities was assessed in a simulated body fluid solution (SBF) for 8 weeks. Below $800^{\circ}C$, the powders were nonstochiometric HAp, and the single HAp phase was successfully synthesized at $800^{\circ}C$. The degree of crystallinity of the HAp powders increased with an increasing calcination temperature and varied in a range from 39.6% to 92.5%. In the low crystallinity HAp powders, the Ca and P ion concentrations of the SBF solution increased with an increasing soaking time, which indicated that the low crystallinity HAp degraded in the SBF solution. The mass of the HAp powders linearly decreased with respect to the soaking time, and the mass loss was higher at lower crystallinities. The mass loss ranged from 0.8% to 13.2% after 8 weeks. The crystallinity of the HAp powders increased with an increasing soaking time up to 4 weeks and then decreased because of HAp degradation. The pH of the SBF solution did not change much throughout the course of these experiments. These results suggested that the crystallinity of HAp can be used to control the degradation.
