STRUCTURAL ELUCIDATION OF SINTERED CARBONATE-CONTAINING HYDROXYAPATITES BY FT-RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY

Hydroxyapatites (HAPs) containing carbonate were sintered between 400 and 1200°C, and the sintered HAPs were analyzed by FT-Raman spectroscopy to give the spectra indicating typical four phosphate bands ν1(PO4)-ν4(PO4), OH translation ν5, notable bands ν6-ν8 in lattice modes, and several combination bands. The band intensities of ν2(PO4)+ν5 and ν1(PO4), and these intensity ratio Rcp values were changed according to the carbonated types in the HAPs. From these results, we conclude that the changes in Raman intensities possibly reflect the particle growth and volume shrinkage in the HAPs. The present Raman study may be applied to structural elucidation study of other substituted apatites such as fluorinated and magnesium apatites as well as forensic study.