Rietveld Studies on Silicon Substituted Hydroxyapatite

Silicon-substituted hydroxyapatite (SiHA) attracts particular interest due its enhanced bioactivity compared with pure hydroxyapatite. In this study we seek to clarify the effects on the lattice parameters of both composition and sintering temperature in experimentally-produced HA and 0.8wt% SiHA, 1.5wt% SiHA and 2.0wt% SiHA sintered at 800oC and 1200oC. X ray diffraction was used to determine the phase purity and crystallographic structure. We found that while the c parameter increased with increasing silicon concentration, the a parameter decreased with initial silicon incorporation then recovered with further increases in silicon incorporation. The calcium (2) channel expanded with silicon incorporation while tetrahedron distortion index (TDI) and the radius of the P channel showed a similar dependence on silicon content as the a parameter.