Reaction Sintering of Biocompatible Al2O3-hBN Ceramics

Biocompatible Al2O3-hBN ceramic was sintered from AlN and B2O3 precursors by reaction hot pressing at 1750 degrees C and 30 MPa for 8 min. The ceramic was compared to nonreactive (NR) one sintered from Al2O3 and BN under the same sintering conditions. The NR ceramic possesses 9% porosity as opposed to only 2% porosity for the reaction sintered Al2O3-hBN. The reaction sintered ceramic has crack resistance in the region of 5.0 +/- 0.1 MPa.m(1/2), which is approximately 20% higher than previously reported pure Al2O3 or Al2O3-hBN sintered without reaction support. The higher amount of hBN in the developed Al2O3-hBN material (27 vol %) facilitates hardness lowering to the region of 6 GPa, which is closer to the bone hardness and makes the ceramic machinable. Reaction sintering of the Al2O3-hBN composite opens a new area of creation and formation of load-bearing Al2O3-hBN ceramic bioimplants.