Synthesis and characterization of ternary glass composition derived by sol-gel method

Abstract

This study was conducted in order to investigate the effect of different Si/Ca ratio (reduced in CaO content) to the properties of ternary glass (SiO2-CaO-P2O5). The glass powder with Si/Ca ratio of 50:45, 70:25 and 90:5 was synthesized by sol-gel method, compacted into pellets and finally sintered at 700°C. The increase in amount of CaO which act as network modifier in the glass system was figured out whether it influenced the physical, structural and bioactivity properties of bioglass. The physical, structural and bioactivity properties of these glasses were observed by using Archimedes test, XRF, BET, XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDX, and Pycnometer. Furthermore, glass pellet was immersed in the SBF solutions for 7 days and their in vitro bioactivity were evaluated. Basically, all compositions showed different level of bioactivity in SBF solutions and glass with the highest CaO content (Si:Ca = 50:45) showed the highest formation of carbonated apatite on its surface. As a conclusion, higher CaO content leads to the higher formation of non-bridging oxygen atom, higher crystalline calcium phosphate and reduced the silicate glass structural bonding which attributed to the increased in apatite forming ability of the glass.