Svetlana P. Buyakova

Porous alumina, zirconia and alumina/zirconia for bone repair: fabrication, mechanical and in vitro biological response

Zirconia (ZrO2) and alumina (Al2O3) based ceramics are widely used for load-bearing applications in bone repair due to their excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility. They are often regarded as bioinert since no direct bone-material interface is created unless a porous structure intercedes, leading to better bone bonding. In this regard, investigating interactions between cells and porous ceramics is of great interest. In the present study, we report on the successful fabrication of sintered alumina A-61, zirconia Z-50 and zirconia/alumina composite ZA-60 ceramics with medium porosities of 61, 50 and 60%, respectively, indicating a bimodal pore size distribution and good interconnectivity. They exhibit elastic moduli of 3-10 GPa and compressive strength values of 60-240 MPa, similar to those of human cortical bone.We performed in vitro cell-material investigations comparing the adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of mouse pre-osteoblasts MC3T3-E1 on the three porous materials. While all three ceramics demonstrate a strong cell attachment, better cell spreading is observed on zirconia-containing substrates. Significantly higher cell growth was quantified on the latter ceramics, revealing an increased alkaline phosphatase activity, higher collagen production and increased calcium biomineralization compared to A-61. Hence, these porous zirconia-containing ceramics elicit superior biological responses over porous alumina of similar porosity, promoting enhanced biological interaction, with potential use as non-degradable bone grafts or as implant coatings.

Porosity and mechanical properties of zirconium ceramics

The article studies the porous ceramics consisting of ultra-fine ZrO2 powders. The porosity of ceramic samples varied from 15% to 80%. The structure of the ceramic materials had a cellular configuration. The distinctive feature of all experimentally obtained strain diagrams is their nonlinearity at low deformations characterized by the parabolic law. It was shown that the observed nonlinear elasticity for low deformations shown in strain diagrams is due to the mechanical instability of cellular elements of the ceramic framework.

The influence of ZrB2-SiC powders mechanical treatment on the structure of sintered ceramic composites

The effect of mechanical treatment by planetary ball milling on the properties of hot pressed ZrB2 - SiC ceramics was studied. It was shown that material densification after mechanical treatment is finished at initial stages of sintering process. Addition of SiC leads to an essential increase of sample density to 99% of theoretically achievable for powder with 2% of SiC, as compared with ZrB2 with the density less than 76%. It was demonstrated that all defects that were accumulated during mechanical treatment are annealed during hot pressing, and there are no changes of CDD values in sintered ceramics.

Mechanical Properties of Zirconium Ceramics with Hierarchical Porous Structure

The work studies porous ceramics produced from ultra-fine powders. The porosity of ceramic samples was from 15 to 80%. The ceramic materials had cellular structure. A distinctive feature of all deformation diagrams obtained in the experiment was their nonlinearity at low deformations, which was described by the parabolic law. It was shown that the observed nonlinear elasticity for low deformations on deformation diagrams is due to mechanical instability of cellular elements in a ceramic frame.

Structure and properties of ZrO2-MgO powders

It have been studied magnesia stabilized zirconia (ZrO2-MgO) powders produced by high-frequency decomposition of water salt solutions. It have been shown that due to precursor dissociation powders consist of spherical particles with smooth surface and irregular hollow aggregates resembling foam. An increase in the magnesium concentration in the precursor has an effect on the powder properties, namely, the specific surface decreases significantly and the bulk density increases. Zirconia in the nanostructured state is present only in the powders with 8.6 and 13.9 mole% MgO, with the size of the c-ZrO2 crystallites in them no more than 100 nm. In powder with 43.3 mole% of MgO the magnesia content in c-ZrO2 solid solution corresponds to its solubility limit of 22.2 mole% at temperature 2100°C.

Zirconia-based sintered ceramics for biomedical applications

A porous ceramics obtained from ultra-fine powders has been studied. The porosity of ceramic samples was from 15 to 80%. The structure of the ceramic materials was a cellular structure. A distinctive feature of all deformation diagrams obtained in the experiment was their nonlinearity at low deformations which was described by the parabolic law. It was shown that the observed nonlinear elasticity for low deformations on deformation diagrams is due to mechanical instability of the cellular elements in the ceramic carcass.

X-Ray Diffraction Analysis of the Sintered Y-TZP-AI2O3 Ceramics

The paper discusses the wear resistance, friction coefficient, and structure of friction surfaces of fine-grained (0.2 µm) Y-TZP-Al2O3 composite rubbed against a steel disk counterface at a pressure of 5 MPa in a range of sliding speeds from 1 to 20 m/sec. It is shown that, starting at 2 m/sec, the fricti on surface is subdivided by a crack network into separate regions within which local spalling occurs at the maximum wear rate and a sliding speed of 5 m/sec. X-ray diffraction reveals inversion (with respect to the initial state) of the peak intensities of the tetragonal phase with random crystalline grain orientation. The degree of this inversion increases with sliding speed. These results are discussed in terms of the effects exerted by the reorientation of martensite-free deformation twins in the tetragonal phase and the formation of a quasi-liquid film on the wear resistance of fine-grained Y-TZP-Al2O3.

Structures Formation on the Y-TZP-AI2O3 Ceramic Composites Surface

The paper discusses the structure of Y-TZP-Al2O3 ceramics produced from nanopowders and friction surface, wear resistance, friction coefficient of Y-TZP-AEO3 composites rubbed against a steel disk counterface at a pressure of 5 MPa in a range of sliding speeds from 0.2 to 47 m/s. Analysis by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy showed that the high wear resistance of Y-TZP-Al2O3 composites at high sliding speeds is due to high-temperature phase transitions and protective film formation on the friction surface.

Producing composite materials based on ZrB2, ZrB2-SiC

The effect of mechanical treatment by planetary ball milling on the properties of hot pressed ZrB2 - SiC ceramics was studied. It has been shown that material densification after mechanical treatment is finished at initial stages of sintering process. Addition of SiC causes a substantial increase in density of the sample to 99% of the theoretical powder containing 20% of silicon carbide, in comparison with samples ZrB2 density not exceeding 76%. It has been shown that all defects which were accumulated during mechanical treatment anneal in hot pressure process and there are no any changes of CDD values in sintered ceramics.

Composite materials based on high-modulus compounds for additive technology

The effect of adding nanocrystalline ZrO2 and submicron TiC to ultrafine Al2O3 on mechanical properties and the microstructure of the composites developed by hot pressing was investigated. It was shown that by means of hot pressing in argon atmosphere at the sintering temperature of 1500 °C one can obtain the composites of Al2O3-ZrO2-TiC with a fine structure and minimal porosity. It was shown that in the material a multi-scale hierarchical structure is formed, which possesses high physical and mechanical properties: the hardness and fracture toughness was 22 GPa and 5.2 MPa*m1/2, respectively. It has been shown that mechanical properties of the composite are better than those of commercial composites based on aluminum oxide (Al2O3, ZTA, Al2O3-TiC) and are comparable to those of silicon nitride.