Mechanical properties of tricalcium phosphate single crystals grown by molten salt synthesis

Viswanath, B and Raghavan, R and Gurao, NP and Ramamurty, U and Ravishankar, N (2008) Mechanical properties of tricalcium phosphate single crystals grown by molten salt synthesis. In: ACTA BIOMATERIALIA, 4 (5). pp. 1448-1454.

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Abstract

Mechanical properties of flux-grown tricalcium phosphate (TCP) single crystals ranging in size from 50 to 75 mu m have been characterized by performing micro- and nanoindentation on their facets. Notwithstanding the inherent brittleness and anisotropy, these single crystals exhibit nanoscale plasticity in the form of pile-up around the edges of indents. A similar plastic response was observed in hydroxyapatite (HA) single crystals during nanoindentation in an earlier study. The hardness and elastic modulus obtained during nanoindentation are discussed in comparison with the polycrystalline forms of both TCP and HA found in the literature. The indentation fracture toughness values of TCP single crystals were found to be higher than those of HA single crystals. The higher values are attributed not only to the difference in crystal structure and corresponding differences in surface energy, but also to extensive crack bridging by ligament formation across crack faces during crack propagation.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	ACTA BIOMATERIALIA
Publisher:	Elsevier science ltd
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to Acta Materialia Inc
Keywords:	single crystals; tricalcium phosphate; plasticity; crack bridging; nanoindentation
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Materials Engineering (formerly Metallurgy)
Date Deposited:	31 Dec 2008 07:28
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 04:52
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/16430

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