Spark Plasma Sintering of Bioactive Ca2MgSi2O7 Ceramics

The bio-ceramics based on Ca and Si have wide development prospect in biomedical, which is attributed to their outstanding bioactivity and cytocompatibility. However, how to improve its sinterability is a key problem to be solved. In this study, pure Ca2MgSi2O7 powders were prepared via a co-precipitation method, and then were sintering by spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The phase and the morphology of the resulting products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The relative density and the bioactivity were also investigated by Archimedean method and simulated body fluid (SBF) soaking method, respectively. Experimental results showed that the Ca2MgSi2O7 ceramics with density of about 99% could be achieved by spark plasma sintering at 1170. for 5 min under 70 MPa. After soaking in the simulated body fluid for 3 d, phosphate precipitation was observed on the surface of the ceramics, while bone-like hydroxyapatite was formed until 7 d soaking, indicating that the Ca2MgSi2O7 ceramics prepared by SPS have good bioactivity to induce the sedimentation of bone-like hydroxyapatite.