Processing of bovine hydroxyapatite (HA) powders and synthesis of calcium phosphate silicate glass ceramics using DC thermal plasma torch

In the present work, hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) was prepared from bovine bones with calcination method (up to 850 °C).The calcinated hydroxyapatite was powdered (30–40 μm) using a mechanical grinder; the particles were highly irregular in shape with sharp edges, angular, rounded, circular, dentric, porous and fragmented morphologies. The irregular shaped calcinated hydroxyapatite was plasma processed to produce spherical powders for thermal spray coating applications. More over; calcium phosphate silicate glass ceramics was produced by plasma melting of ball milled hydroxyapatite–borosilicate glass (50 wt.%) mixture. The samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The morphology was determined using scanning electron (SEM) and optical microscopy (OM). The microhardness, density and porosity measurements for the synthesized samples were made.