Mixture design approach to optimize the performance of TiO2 modified zirconia/alumina sintered ceramics

- A mixture design approach was adopted to optimize the properties of Al2O3-ZrO2-TiO2 composites for bone tissue replacement.
- Sheffe's canonical special cubic models were used and verified by means of the variance analysis (maximum P-value 0.0177).
- Ordinary least squares (OLS) methods allowed to identify target performances for ZrO2 content > 80% and TiO2 content < 2%.

The development of Al2O3-ZrO2-TiO2 composites targeted for biomedical applications was investigated. A design approach was applied to evaluate how composite formulation could affect the mechanical properties, in terms of hardness, tensile strength and elastic modulus. The statistical analysis based on mixture design model was proposed in order to define an adequate tool to describe the mechanical properties relationships of composite mixture. On the basis of the results, the mixture experimental design showed that the fitted models were adequate to describe mechanical properties of composites. A good compromise between mechanical properties that fit the requirements of bone tissue replacement was defined.

94