PROCESSING OF ZrO2 SCAFFOLDS COATED BY FLUORAPATITE

ALBANO, M. P; BELTINA LEON; GARRIDO, L, B

Congreso; 9º Congreso Latino-Americano de Organos Artificiales y Biomateriales; 2016

Highly porous ZrO2 scaffolds fabricated by the replication method were coated with fluorapatite (FA). The FA coating was obtained by infiltrating the ZrO2 scaffolds with stabilized aqueous FA slips having different viscosity values: ~ 1.0, 2.2 and 5.0 mPa.s. The influence of the FA slip viscosity on the coating distribution and structure of the coated scaffolds was investigated. The FA slip with ~1.0 mPa.s viscosity did not lead to a continuous coating. The coating with FA slips having 2.2 mPa.s viscosity was uniformly distributed along the strut surfaces and formed a thin layer inside the macropores. On the contrary, coating with FA slips of 5.0 mPa.s viscosity resulted in thicker FA layers which strongly reduced the pore sizes and increased the struts thickness of the original ZrO2 scaffolds. The porous structure obtained after coating with slips of 2.2 mPa.s viscosity is expected to be optimum for tissue ingrowth and bone formation.