Fabrication of bioactive glass-cordierite composite scaffold by gelcasting method

In the present work the combination of bioactive glass ( BG) and cordierite are expected to produce high strength bioceramic. Both BG and cordeirite powder were synthesized by melt quench method, then, BG-cordierite composite scaffold was fabricated using gel casting method. The composition of cordierite were varied (10-30 wt.%) during the fabrication of BG scaffold and sintered at 1000°C. The density of BG-cordierite scaffolds were characterized using Archimedes method, while compressive strength was characterized using Universal Testing Machine. The density of BG increase from 0.081 g/cm3 to 0.531 g/cm3 and the compressive strength increased from 0.13 MPa to 0.48 MPa when 20 wt. % of cordierite added to the BG, however compressive strength decreased to 0.36 Mpa whe 30 wt.% added. BG-cordierite scaffolds were immersed in Hank's Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) for bioactivity test and then were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The apatite formation was observed after the immersion of BG in HBSS after 14 days and the amount of apatite present increased with increasing cordierite content in the BG.