Electric current assisted microstructure evolution of bioceramic materials: Intragranular pore containing bulk hydroxyapatites

Abstract We successfully fabricated a controllable intragranular pore containing hydroxyapatite (HA) by the combination of an electric current assisted sintering and pre-heat treatment process. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the sintered HA bulk with and without intragranular pores were investigated in this study. Fully densified HA fabricated by the combination of an electric assisted sintering and pre-heat treatment process showed extremely superior mechanical properties. Meanwhile, hierarchically structured porous HA consisting of nanosized intragranular pores without macropores in the grain boundary showed dramatically decreased elastic modulus by different fracture mechanism compared with fully densified HA.