Novel method to produce β-TCP scaffolds

The production of ceramic scaffolds by a novel method was reported in this work. The method comprised the mixture of colloidal silica and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) powder, where paraffin microspheres were further added to provide the porosity in the scaffold after firing. Thermo-gravimetric analysis showed that the paraffin was completely degraded before 550 °C, where the heat treatment at 1100 °C was enough to remove the paraffin and provide porosity and mechanical strength. The scaffold had an open porosity, but with poor pore interconnection. The density of the scaffold was 1.11 ± 0.03 g/cm 3 with a porosity of 64.98 ± 1.1%, and the compression strength was 5.02 ± 1.2 MPa.