[beta]-TCP Produced through the Starch Consolidation Technique

Synthetic materials based on calcium such as hydroxyapatite and beta-TCP are one of the main bone substitutes because of their biocompatibility. The starch consolidation is a simple and low cost technique which is based on using the starch as a gel former in the presence of water, turning possible its use as a conforming and main element to form pores. In this project,samples were produced trough starch conformation by fixing the percentage of solids (beta-TCP) in 50% and varying the amount and type of starch (corn and potato) in 10, 20, 30 and 40%. The results showed that it was possible to obtain porous samples by using corn and potato starches. Moreover, the percentage of starch added strongly influenced porosity and resistance of the samples. The addition of 30% or more of starch reduced the mechanical resistance of samples which limited their use.