Abstract:
The object of this study was to produce porous alumina-hydroxyapatite (HA) composite bodies
via protein foaming-consolidation method. Egg yolk was used as a pore creating agent. Alumina and HA
powders were mixed with yolk, starch and darvan 821 A at an adjusted mass ratio to make slurry. The
slurries were cast into cylindrical shaped molds and then dried for foaming and consolidation process.
Subsequently, the dried bodies were burned at 600°C for 1 h, followed by sintering at temperature of
1400°C for 2 h. The starch addition was selected as the variable factor. The density of porous bodies
increased from 2.40 to 2.81 g cm-3 when starch amount increased from 1.0 to 3.0 g. The compressive
strength was found 18.0 MPa at 38.3% porosity and it increased to 102.3 at 29.1% porosity. The pores of
50-600 μm size illustrating the rough enough internal surfaces, were obtained for potential use in hard
tissue engineering.
