Thermal behavior of apatitic calcium phosphates synthesized from calcium carbonate and orthophosphoric acid or potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate

The synthesis of calcium hydroxyapatite powder (Ca-HA) from orthophosphoric acid or from potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate and calcium carbonate was carried out under moderate conditions. A better dissolution of calcium carbonate and a complete precipitation of the orthophosphate species were obtained with orthophosphoric acid, indicating that it may be of interest as a phosphate source compared with potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate. The influence of calcination treatment on the physico-chemical properties of the solids is discussed in this paper. Different characterization techniques such as specific surface area (S BET), true density, particle size distribution, thermo-mechanical analysis, simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry analysis, X-ray diffraction and infrared were performed to understand the phase changes during thermal treatment. Specific surface area decreased while true density and particle size increased with the rise in the calcination temperature, due to the sintering of particles and the chemical reactions occurring at high temperatures. Mixtures of well-crystallized Ca-HA and tricalcium phosphate (TCP) or well-crystallized Ca-HA, CaO, and TCP were obtained after calcination at 800–1,000 °C of the solid products starting from orthophosphoric acid or potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate, respectively.