Resorbable calcium sulfates with tunable degradation rate

The calcium sulfate (CS) tablets exhibit excellent osteoinductive and osteoconductive characteristics, they can be used to repair bone defects. However, the degradation rate of CS tablets is very fast. The present study demonstrates, for the first time, that the degradation rate of CS tablets can be manipulated through the use of sintering technique. Firing the CS tablets to a temperature of 1100 °C increases their relative density to a value above 90%. The density can be further enhanced to above 95% through the addition of 1 wt% sintering additives. The sintered CS tablets with the addition of sintering additives exhibit a high strength and a low cytotoxicity. More importantly, the degradation rate is tunable through the choice of sintering additives.