Preparation and Characterization of Diopside -Wollastonite Composite for Orthopedic Application

The primary research interests in this area of materials science are focused on discovering a potential biomaterial. The need for biomaterial in biomedical applications has been massive in hard tissue engineering due to the significant spike in human bone diseases and bone injuries. In the last 30 years, scientists have achieved great progress in the development of materials in orthopaedic application as a result of the innovation of ceramic materials The aim of the work is to synthesis diopside (CaMgSi2O6) and wollastonite (CaSiO3) through sol-gel combustion method by using tartaric acid as a fuel and prepare a diopside/wollastonite composite out of it. The synthesized precursors were thermally treated to eliminate the secondary phase and pure phase of diopside and wollastonite were achieved at 850 oC and 800 oC respectively. The product was characterized by powder X-ray diffractometer (PXRD) for phase identification and functional group analysis was carried out using Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy. The electron microscopy imaging and elemental analysis (SEM/EDAX) was used to study the surface morphology of the material. Later the diopside-wollastonite composite was prepared in three different ratios and sintered at 600 oC for 3 h. In in vitro bioactivity test reveals the initiation of apatite deposition the surface of the ceramic composite scaffold after 3 days of immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF) medium. The obtained results show tremendous improvisation of apatite deposition and the mechanical stability (113Mpa) which is three times greater than the pure diopside.