Preparation of Highly Porous ZrO2 Bone Scaffold

6. International Conference on Mathematics, Engineering, Natural Medical Sciences, (EJONS 6), Adana, Türkiye, 8 - 10 Mart 2019, cilt.1, ss.595-600

The scaffolds as bioceramic materials may enhance the functionalities of cell and tissue to

support the adhesion and growth of a large number of cells by providing a large surface area

and pore structure within a three-dimensional structure. Porosity provides adequate space,

permits cell suspension, and penetrates the three-dimensional structure. These scaffolds must

be biocompatible, osteoconductive, osteoinductive and biodegradable, and should moreover

have appropriate biomechanical properties prior to the regeneration of the tissue. Therefore, an

adequate pore size as well as a uniformly distributed and interconnected pore structure are

crucial to allow for easy distribution of cells throughout the scaffold structure. Scaffold

structure is directly related to fabrication methods. There are various routes to fabricate ceramic

foams including polymeric sponge impregnation method, sacrificial template method, and

direct foaming method. In the present research, highly porous Zirconia (ZrO2) bone scaffolds,

were fabricated by a replication technique using polymeric sponge. The slurries were prepared

by suspending nano ZrO2 powder, 3 wt. % carboxy methyl cellulose as binder and pure distilled

water. The polymeric sponges were soaked in the prepared slurry, dried at 80°C for 24 hours in

an oven, followed by sintering in a muffle furnace at 1600°C for 2 hours. The scaffold internal

architecture and microstructure were examined by scanning electron microscopy and the

elemental composition of the scaffolds was determined using an energy-dispersive X-ray

analysis which is an integrated feature of the SEM. The porosity degree of the ZrO2 scaffolds

was also investigated by the use of the software Image-Pro+, indicating the presence of a

relationship between porosity and permeability characteristics.

Keywords: Bioceramics, Porous materials, Porous scaffold, ZrO2