Mechanochemical-hydrothermal preparation of crystalline hydroxyapatite powders at room temperature

Crystalline hydroxyapatite (HAp) powders were prepared at room temperature from heterogeneous reaction between Ca(OH)2powders and (NH4)2HPO4 solutions via the mechanochemical-hydrothermal route. X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric characterization, and chemical analysis were performed, and it was determined that the room temperature products were phase-pure, thermally stable HAp with a nearly stoichiometric composition. Dynamic light scattering revealed that the dispersed particle size distribution of the room temperature HAp powders was in the range of 0.15–3.0 μm with a specific surface area of ≈90 m2/g. Both specific surface area measurements and scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the HAp powders consisted of agglomerates containing hundreds of ≈20 nm HAp crystals.