**Author details**

Siwar Sakka, Jamel Bouaziz and Foued Ben Ayed\*

\*Address all correspondence to: benayedfoued@yahoo.fr

Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry, National School of Engineering, Sfax University, Sfax, Tunisia

### **References**

better assess the relationship between the processing conditions, the microstructural design

The biomaterials of alumina-tricalcium phosphate composites have been characterized by using MAS NMR, XRD and SEM analysis after the sintering process. The effect of β-TCP ad‐ ditive on the alumina matrix was observed in different thermal analyses: dilatometry analy‐ sis and DTA analysis. The mechanical properties have been investigated by the Brazilian test. This investigation has allowed us to define the sintering temperature and the percent‐ age of added alumina for which β-TCP should have an optimal densification and better me‐ chanical properties. This study has also allowed us to summarize the effect of the sintering temperature and the length of sintering time on the mechanical properties of the Al2O3-TCP composites. The produced Al2O3-TCP composites with different percentages of β-TCP (50 wt%; 40 wt%; 20 wt% and 10 wt%) exhibited much better mechanical properties than the re‐ ported values of β-TCP without alumina. The Al2O3-TCP composites showed a higher rup‐ ture strength at 1600°C, which certainly increased with the alumina content and reached the optimum value with 90 wt%. However, no cracks were observed in the microstructure of the composites which contained this percentage of alumina. This is due to the allotropic trans‐ formation of the tricalcium phosphate. The partial or reversal transformation of tricalcium phosphate (β to α or α to α') during the cooling period could induce a residual stress within the dense bioceramics, marking it much more brittle. Accordingly, the optimum perform‐ ance of alumina-tricalcium phosphate composites achieved 13.5 MPa. Furthermore, the best mechanical properties of the composites were obtained after the sintering process at 1600°C for 1 hour. With different weight rations of tricalcium phosphate: alumina (50:50, 40:60 and 20:80), the performance of the composites was hindered by the formation of both cracks and

as well as the mechanical response.

42 Advances in Biomaterials Science and Biomedical Applications

**4. Conclusions**

intragranular porosity.

**Acknowledgements**

**Author details**

Tunisia

The authors thank Mr Ahmed BAHLOUL for his assistance in this work.

Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry, National School of Engineering, Sfax University, Sfax,

Siwar Sakka, Jamel Bouaziz and Foued Ben Ayed\*

\*Address all correspondence to: benayedfoued@yahoo.fr


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