Syntheses of calcium-deficient apatite fibres by a homogeneous precipitation method and their characterizations

Calcium-deficient apatite fibres were successfully synthesized by a homogeneous precipitation method using starting solutions with a Ca/P ratio of 1.00-1.67. In the case of the Ca/P ratio of 1.67, the resulting apatite fibre had long-axes of about 60-100 mu m and contained 5.2 mass % of carbonate ions. The Ca/P ratio of apatite fibres could be controlled in the range of 1.53-1.68 by changing the Ca/P ratio of the starting solutions from 1.00 to 1.67. The long-axes and the carbonate contents of the resulting calcium-deficient apatite fibres increased with Ca/P ratio of the starting solutions. These apatite fibres were of single crystal and had a preferred orientation in the c-axis direction. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.