A novel and economical route for synthesizing akermanite (Ca2MgSi2O7) nano-bioceramic

Despite the benefits of akermanite, there are limited reports on making powder and dense bulk akennanite (Ca2MgSi2O2) and most articles have focused on building akermanite scaffolds. This study centers on a new and economical route for the synthesis of akermanite bioceramic via high energy ball milling and subsequent sintering of a mixed powders of eggshell (as calcium source), MgO, and SiO2. The mechanisms occurred during akermanite synthesis were carefully investigated. XRD, DTA, FTIR, TGA, SEM, TEM, ICP and EDS were used for analyzing the obtained results. Simulated body fluid (SBF) was also used fot assessing in vitro bioactivity of the akermanite samples. According to the results, the method presented in this study can be introduced as a facile method for preparing akermanite samples with a good compressive strength of 210 +/- 7 MPa. The XRD patterns also indicated that akermanite bioceramic was synthesized after heat treating at 900 degrees C which is very low compared to previous researches. With increasing the sintering time of the akermanite samples and the reduction of the surface porosities, the amount of the formed apatite and also the rate of apatite formation decreased and the compressive strength of the samples increased. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.