Bioactivity assessment of hydroxyapatite coatings produced by alkali conversion of monetite

Commercially pure titanium sheets were coated with hydroxyapatite using three different routes: alkali conversion of monetite to hydroxyapatite utilising NH4OH, KOH and NaOH solutions with pH=12.5. The hydroxyapatite coatings produced by each of the three different routes all exhibited similar morphologies and crystallinities, and hydroxyapatite was the only crystalline phase observed in all the coatings. The crystallinity and identification of the phases present were obtained by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and the bioactivity was assessed according to the method developed by KOKUBO and co-workers [1]. SEM analysis showed that all specimens exhibited areas with apatite precipitation From the SBF solution after 3 days immersion in SBF solution, irrespective of the alkaline solution used for the conversion process. This finding was confirmed by XRD analysis, which revealed a pattern corresponding to poorly-crystallinity hydroxyapatite. There appeared to be no effect of the ammonium, sodium or potassium ions from the different alkaline solutions used on the chemical conversion of monetite to hydroxyapatite on the properties of the resulting coating.