Physical characteristic and in-vitro bioactivity property of sintered glasses made via sol-gel and powder sintering process

In this work, ternary system (SiO2-CaO-P2O5) biocompatible glass with different compositions (CaO/P2O5 ratio) were prepared by sol-gel method and sintering process. The physical characteristic and bioactive properties of each different sample composition were analyzed using XRF, particle sizer, N2 adsorption-desorption, FTIR, XRD, and FESEM-EDX. The sintered glass pellets were subjected to immersion studies in a simulated body fluid (SBF) solution for 14 days. All compositions of gel-glass particulates showed mesoporous-type structures and consisted of very high porosities with nano-pores in size. Different Ca/P ratios in gel-glass composition are affected by different porous characteristics. All compositions of sintered glass showed very good bioactive behavior by significant deposition of the carbonate apatite layer. Sintered glass with the Ca/P ratio = 2.33 showed very significant bioactive properties as it also comprised the highest pore volume and size. However, sintered glass with the lowest Ca/P ratio (Ca:P=1.50) showed a quite significant reduction in the bioactive property as it also consisted of the lowest pore volume and pore sizes. Hence, the in-vitro bioactivity property of sintered glass is significantly influenced by the increase in its porous characteristics due to differences in the Ca/P ratio.